Corruption is a Crime

From The Guardian:

People around the world believe that Britain has become a markedly more corrupt country, according to a league table published yesterday.

Britain has slipped down the rankings of a table compiled yearly by the group Transparency International, following political scandals and the government’s failure to prosecute over alleged bribery.

The table is compiled each year by the global anti-corruption group, from polls taken around the world. The results are used to assess how much corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians in 180 countries.

Britain is now classed as the 16th cleanest country in the world, down from 12th in the previous year, and its worst performance since the league table was started in 1995…

The executive director of Transparency International, Chandrashekhar Krishan, said it was “probably no surprise” that Britain’s reputation had “significantly worsened”. He said: “Public confidence in political office has been eroded by the ‘cash-for-honours’ affair and the grudging exposures of MPs’ expenses.”

Britain, he added, had a “wretched and woeful record” in prosecuting business executives for paying bribes to foreign politicians and officials to win contracts.

He said this was epitomised by the government’s decision to drop the police investigation into allegations that BAE, Britain’s biggest arms company, paid bribes to Saudi royals.