Denmark, New Zealand least corrupt; India stares at 94th slot

Denmark and New Zealand were tied at the top slot for being least corrupt countries in this year's Corruption Perception Index with Indiamaintaining its 94th position among a total of 177 countries ranked by Transparency International India (TII).

"India maintains a status quo rank at 94 with the same score as last year of 36. Such a low rank and score could be attributed to recently exposed scams involving government officials, politicians and private companies," a TII statement said today.

Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia clinged to the bottom with a score of 8.

TII said that more than two-thirds of the 177 countries ranked in itsCPI 2013 score below 50, on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (Clean).

Denmark and New Zealand tied for the first place this year, with a score of 91, followed by Finland and Sweden (score 89) andSingapore (score 86).

"Corruption can be tackled only if various stakeholders join hands in their effort to clean the country," said Justice (retd) Kamleshwar Nath, Chair of Transparency International India (TII).

Among the South Asian countries, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh remained more corrupt with CPI score of 31, 28, 27 respectively while Sri Lanka and Bhutan were less corrupt than India with CPI score of 63 and 37.

To calculate India's position this year, ten out of 13 independent data sources specialising in governance and business climate analysis were used.

"These, including Bertlesmann Foundation, World Bank and World Economic Forum, help in measuring perceptions of corruption in public sector, enables cross country comparability, comparison over time and quantitative granularity," the statement added.

The statement said that international bodies like G-20 must crackdown on money laundering, make corporations more transparent and pursue the return of stolen assets.

"We are also working with the private sector to advocate for strengthening Prevention of Corruption Act to tackle the supply side of corruption and therefore plead for the immediate enactment of accountability legislations, including Lokpal Bill, Whistleblowers Bill and Grievance Redressal Bill," the statement added.

TII also advocated for appointment of Lokayuktas, compulsory audit of accounts of political parties, electoral reforms to prevent tainted politicians from contesting elections and holding the position of power among others.