French institutions are not spared from corruption, according to the NGO Transparency International which publishes its 2021 ranking of countries where the phenomenon is most noticeable. France has gained a place compared to 2020 to arrive at 22nd position out of 180 countries studied, with a score of 71 out of 100, but France has stagnated around 20th place for ten years. The NGO highlights notable setbacks in the fight against corruption, illustrated by recent political scandals. Is the situation comparable with our neighbors in Northern Europe or in Malaysia? Overview.
Northern Europe, model student in the ranking
It is true that the group shot is impressive. In the first place we find ex aequo Finland and Denmark, with 88 points out of 100. And just below come Sweden and Norway, with 85 points. We only find New Zealand and Singapore to be able to fit in the first six places. All the others are Nordic countries.
#ICC2021 shows levels of corruption worsening in some EU countries. This has been coupled with #ruleoflaw seizures. https://t.co/Z9MTfeaFDD
The EU needs to use conditionality rules to suspend funds to Member States who do not respect the rule of law and fundamental rights. pic.twitter.com/e9nZlz0GFj
— Transparency Int. EU (@TI_EU) January 25, 2022
Historically, some see in this moral rigor the mark of the Protestant religion. There is also a cult of transparency here, and the idea that public money does not belong so much to the state, but to taxpayers. To take the example of Sweden, no politician has a car paid for by the state coffers, it would be unthinkable. Only the Prime Minister has a company apartment, for which he pays rent. This use of public money is controlled by a national audit office, as well as by the press, which has access to all expenditure down to the smallest receipt.
But let’s not go so far as to say that these are perfect societies, where all transactions are transparent. The representatives of Transparency International all insist on this point: this ranking is based on an index of the perception of corruption, and not of corruption itself. It does not, for example, measure the abuse of power or the insider trading that often occurs in small countries like the Nordic countries, where everyone knows each other, where the networks are very endogamous. Jesper Olsen, head of Transparency International in Denmark, illustrates this on another aspect.
“In 2020 a major survey showed that 1% of Danes had used a bribe or payment in the past year to obtain a favor from a public service. This shows that no country is spared from Corruption.”
Jesper Olsen, Head of Transparency International in Denmarkat franceinfo
In Sweden the figure was similar and in addition in this country a fifth of respondents said they had used personal contacts to access various services, without queuing – for example a place in a school, or an appointment with a specialist. Like what no one is perfect, even in the northern countries!
In Malaysia, corruption affects those in charge of fighting it
Azam Baki, the head of the anti-corruption agency, bought more than 200,000 euros worth of shares, far more than what is allowed for civil servants. The noise around this case, which some now call AzamGate, is not welcomed by everyone in Malaysia. Indeed, the media which broadcast the investigation revealing the stock market activities of the head of anti-corruption informed that it had been the target of cyber-attack following this publication. The principal concerned filed a defamation complaint against its author, the independent journalist Lalitha Kunarat nam, asking her in passing for 2 million euros in compensation.
#Malaysia : Head of anti-corruption agency @SPRMMalaysia Azam Baki wants to silence journalist Lalitha Kunaratnam (@LalithaVelvet) which revealed the corruption that reigns within it. #RSF asks for the abandonment of legal proceedings against him.https://t.co/70Esq15c3r
— RSF (@RSF_inter) January 19, 2022
On the side of the authorities, the demonstration which was supported on Saturday January 22 by 33 NGOs and 11 political organizations was not so much to the taste of the police who invoked the coronavirus to ban it. The authorities also questioned some of its organizers and ended up blocking car traffic and public transport in Kuala Lumpur ahead of the rally. A few hundred diehards nevertheless defied these prohibitions and obstacles, including a disillusioned retiree: “In the past, the current ruling party had a lot of scandals, but at least they were trying to hide it. Today it’s so blatant… And they’re not embarrassed; basically they’re telling the people , look: we can do what we want and get by!”
Azam Baki has never denied the existence of these transactions but assured that it was his brother who had used his bank account, information since contradicted by the country’s stock market surveillance authorities, but which has not aroused investigation by the Malaysian justice for the moment.
>>> Malaysia: the corruption scandal that threatens power
This is not the first corruption scandal for Malaysia. In 2018, the police thus arrested the former Prime Minister of the country in the context of the 1MDB affair. Often referred to as the biggest financial scandal in the world, this acronym refers to the embezzlement of almost 8 billion in public money. Four years later, the supposed crook behind this gigantic corruption affair, a businessman named Jho Low, has never been found or arrested and Malaysians will soon have to choose a new leader as trust between the authorities and the population still seem very fragile. The latest example of this, during the historic floods that shocked and devastated the country at the end of 2021, on Twitter the hashtag “Don’t give money to the government” was among the most shared. Behind this formula, one could read the frustration of a certain part of the population who saw the inhabitants threatened by the rising waters saved by fellow citizens rather than by the public authorities, and who therefore encouraged potential donors not to trust government bodies and turn instead to NGOs.