The Transparency International has described UK’s PM David Cameron as hypocritical for telling Queen Elizabeth that Nigeria and Afghanistan are the two most corrupt countries on the planet.
“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,” said Cobus de Swardt, TI’s managing director.
He was responding to a viral video of Cameron debriefing the queen on the status of the countries participating in the anti-corruption summit holding in the UK.
In the footage published by the ITV Tuesday, the prime minister was caught saying Nigeria is “fantastically corrupt”.
Cameron was recently linked to some shell companies in Panama, following an international investigation championed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists which unearthed over 10 million documents hidden in the database of Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm specialising in offshore deals.
He just managed to weasel out of the allegation by explaining he was aware his father invested offshore, and he himself has been benefitting from the investments—tax-free.
The TI, however, insisted Nigeria and Afghanistan have been making efforts lately to turn a new leaf.
“There is no doubt that historically, Nigeria and Afghanistan have had very high levels of corruption, and that continues to this day,” said de Swardt.
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“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.”
Nigeria currently ranks 136 of 168 countries and territories in T.I.’s Corruption Perception Index for the year 2015.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, agreed Nigeria might have been wallowing in sleaze, but noted President Muhammadu Buhari is different.
“This particular president is not corrupt. He’s been trying hard,” said Welby.
Responding, media adviser to the president, Sheu Garba, expressed disappointment at Cameron’s statement, wondering whether the prime minister has no idea of how Buhari has been fighting corruption in Nigeria.
Recently, a number of countries, including the U.S. the U.K. affirmed their support for Buhari’s anti-graft crusade
“The prime minister must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria. Things are changing with corruption and everything else,” Garba said.
President Buhari will be joining 60 other world leaders Thursday to fashion out better measures to fight corruption.