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UK a big part of world’s corruption, says Transparency International

By Tonye Bakare
11 May 2016   |   9:01 am
De Swardt accused the United Kingdom and its Crown territories of letting corruption to fester through the provision of safe haven for corrupt assets.
British Prime Minister David Cameron delivers a speech on the European Union (EU) at the British Museum in central London on May 9, 2016. Prime Minister David Cameron warned Monday that if Britain left the European Union it would put peace and stability on the continent at risk. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / LEON NEAL

British Prime Minister David Cameron delivers a speech in central London on May 9, 2016. PHOTO: AFP/LEON NEAL

As Nigerians and people around the world react to the comments made by the British Prime Minister David Cameron that Nigeria and Afghanistan are the two most corrupt nations in the world, Transparency International, has accused the United Kingdom of contributing to corrupt practices around the world.

“There is no doubt that historically, Nigeria and Afghanistan have had very high levels of corruption, and that continues to this day,” said Cobus de Swardt, managing director of the organisation. ”

“But the leaders of those countries have sent strong signals that they want things to change, and the London Anti-Corruption Summit creates an opportunity for all the countries present to sign up to a new era.”

De Swardt accused the United Kingdom and its Crown territories of letting corruption fester through the provision of safe haven for corrupt assets.

“This affects the UK as much as other countries: we should not forget that by providing a safe haven for corrupt assets, the UK and its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are a big part of the world’s corruption problem,” he said.

Cameron was filmed making the remarks to the queen and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at an event at Buckingham Palace, ahead of an anti-corruption summit he is hosting in London on Thursday.

“We’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain,” the prime minister said.

“Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world,” he added.

Welby, who worked as an oil executive in West Africa before joining the church and who has also undertaken conflict resolution work in Nigeria, noted that “this particular president is actually not corrupt”.

“He’s really trying,” Cameron agreed, and the queen noted to Welby: “He is trying, isn’t he?”

It was not clear to whom they were referring, but Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani are both due to attend the summit.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in London to attend the International Anti-Corruption Summit to be hosted by David Cameron.

In his pre-summit keynote address on Wednesday morning, Buhari called for the establishment of an anti-corruption infrastructure that will trace and return stolen assets to their countries of origin.

“Unfortunately, repatriating stolen assets is tedious, time-consuming, costly. It entails more than just signing of bilateral agreements,” said Buhari.

7 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    Mr cameron was already drunk while making that misguided statement.He failed to acknowledge that most corruption cases is facilitated by British banks.
    Cameron has no moral authourity to to talk about corruption because all our stolen artifacts are still on display in Britain.
    Even the daimonds that the queen wears today were stolen from Africa.
    To hell with Britain and their imperialism.

    • Author’s gravatar

      Typical Nigerian mentality. Rather than reconcile yourself to the facts and the truth of the matter, you kill the messenger and trample on the message instead. Nigeria is one of the most corrupt nations on earth and you cannot deny it with a straight face. Anyone other than David Cameron could have said it because that’s the fact. If your corrupt public officials willingly chose to help the British economy with their looted money, the British owes you no obligation to turn it down.

      • Author’s gravatar

        Iike Timaya,I concur but has got some deep points though….yeah,anybody could have said that but it sounds funny and equally ironic when a pirate calls a militant a criminal,the only difference bw the two is their modes of operation asides that,they have 99 percent similarities….birds of same feathers flock together,we were colonized by em so d diff bw em nd us is mere colours and packaging…

  • Author’s gravatar

    I do not blame David Cameron. The real blame goes to the moronic imbeciles that keep stealing the commonwealth of Nigeria and putting it British and other economies.

  • Author’s gravatar

    There is an adage he who stole from rack is a thief and the one that receive it on the way down is more of a thief.Both the looters and the receiver of the loots are corrupt therefore Britain is one of the most currupt nation on earth QED

    • Author’s gravatar

      Gbam. David Cameron and Britain are enablers and have no moral authority to criticise when British Banks provide a safe haven for these stolen assets!!! Britain should be ranked high on the corruption scale if the enabling criterion is properly weighted!!

  • Author’s gravatar

    Nigeria was one of the bright apprentices groomed by england in this trade