Transparency International called for political funding to be clearer
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Switzerland has improved its placing by moving into the top five in the annual Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI)External link by Transparency International (TI). The higher a country’s ranking, the less corrupt it is perceived to be. The index still found room for improvement however.
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Switzerland moved up two positions from 2013. While year on year comparisons have their place, their significance for a country’s susceptibility to corruption is limited, according to TI Switzerland.
The organisation said in a statement that the ranking is only relevant in comparison to other countries, and did not mean there was no room for improvement.
Highlighted areas include tackling private corruption – something which is not measured in the index – legal protection for whistleblowers and transparency in the financial affairs of political parties and campaigns.
The anti-corruption group has called for corruption by private persons to become a criminal offence and for conflicts of interest in public procurements to be subject to regulation.
The 2014 CPI rates 175 states from 0 to 100, the higher score, the less corrupt the country is perceived to be. Denmark scored the highest with 92 points, Switzerland was given 86 points along with Norway. At the other end of the scale, North Korea and Somalia each had only eight points.
The list is based on data from organisations such as the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the African Development Bank and the Economist Intelligence Unit.
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Despite dropping one place in the Corruptions Perceptions Index, Swiss public officials are still the seventh least likely to take bribes, abuse their power or engage in other underhand business. The findings come as a welcome tonic for the Alpine state that has become increasingly embroiled in a long-running international row over tax evasion abuses…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.