Nigeria tops corruption chart

Five African countries are among the world's most corrupt

Nigeria has been ranked as the most corrupt country in the world.

An annual survey carried out by the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) also grouped Angola, Cameroon, Kenya and Mozambique among the top 10 most corrupt.

The damning report was released as the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo made an official visit to Britain pressing for reduction of the country's huge debts.

The world's Cleanest

Finland

Denmark

New Zealand

Sweden

Canada

Other countries in the most corrupt list were Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Russia and Azerbaijan.

Corruption cases

Last year Nigeria was rated as the 27th most corrupt country in the world.

But an investigation report released in July this year revealed massive misappropriation of of public money by members of the national assembly.

The Nigerian government has been battling to bring back nearly $3b stashed away in foreign banks by former ruler, the late Sani Abacha.

And in Kenya, the government removed a list of corruption suspects contained in a parliament probe report.

The report dubbed "the list of shame", implicated top ranking officials, including President Moi's son, the vice-president and cabinet ministers in various financial scandals.

Abuse of power

The organisation surveyed 90 countries using opinion polls prepared by independent institutions including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

Finland was rated cleanest followed by New Zealand which tied with Sweden and then Canada.

The late Abacha has millions in Swiss banks

Britain was among the top 10 least corrupt countries. The United States was ranked 14th and France 21st least corrupt.

"Our index is a vital reminder to the international community that far more must urgently be done to fight bribery," TI Chairman Peter Eigen told reporters.

The Transparency International index ranks countries according to the attitudes of analysts and public officials.

It defines corruption as abuse of power for private gain.