DHAKA, Oct 18: Bangladesh has topped a list of countries where corruption is perceived to be most prevalent for the fifth consecutive year. Chad, a central African country, shares the title with Bangladesh atop the Corruption Perception Index 2005 of the Berlin-based Transparency International.

Bangladesh and Chad both scored 1.7 on a scale of 10, while the least corrupt country, Iceland, scored 9.7.

Haiti, which tied with Bangladesh at the top last year, ranked joint-second in the latest index along with Myanmar and Turkmenistan.

Bangladesh first topped the index in 2001, and has held on to the position ever since.

“Bangladesh has consistently been a poor performer in the CPI, reflecting the perception that rampant corruption continues undermining sustainable development,” said the TI report published in Dhaka, and simultaneously around the world.

Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, a trustee of Bangladesh chapter of Transparency International, released the report at a press conference at the National Press Club on Tuesday.

He said the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, and the leader of the opposition in parliament, Sheikh Hasina, can set an example in reversing the perception of pervasive corruption by making public their asset and liability statements.

“Neither Sheikh Hasina nor Khaleda Zia have made the asset and liability statements of the members of their government public,” he said.

“The bureaucracy and business people along with corrupt political cliques are responsible for corruption,” Muzaffer said. “But the people of the country suffer the most because of it.”

Agencies add: The Transparency International said that out of 44 African nations covered in its 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), 31 scored less than three — ‘a sign of rampant corruption’ — on a scale of zero to ten.

“Africa is the continent with the lowest average in the CPI,” it added, confirming widespread perceptions that the world’s poorest continent is also its most graft-ridden.

Topping an expanded list on Africa this year as the most corrupt nation in the continent — and the world — was Chad.

It was followed by Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast, all with scores of under two.

The continent’s least corrupt nation was Botswana, with a score of 5.9, followed by Tunisia, South Africa, Namibia and Mauritius.

The list is closely watched by an international community that is increasingly impatient for improved governance and less corruption in Africa in return for aid and debt relief.

Regional expert Richard Dowden noted that three of the four African countries scoring worst were oil producers, meaning it was not only locals involved in the kickback trade.

“We shouldn’t just shrug our shoulders at this. Western oil companies should be held to account as well,” Dowden, director of the British-based Royal African Society, told Reuters.

But the main responsibility was among Africa’s ruling elites, he added. “The prime changes have to happen in Africa itself but it does seem to be getting worse.”

Transparency International, which bases the list on perceptions of businessmen and analysts, urged the government of President Idriss Deby in Chad to follow up reports of graft.

“The country is marked by political instability, human rights abuses and weak press freedom,” it added.

Despite its poor showing, Nigeria was singled out as Africa’s most improved state, up from 1.6 in 2004 to 1.9 now, thanks to a re-energized government anti-corruption campaign.

At the launch of the index in London, the watchdog’s chief executive David Nussbaum said Nigeria’s case showed the anti-graft war was ‘a long haul, not a quick silver bullet fix’.

“It is encouraging that a poor and developing country can change its score and its ranking in our index,” he told Reuters.

The index was released simultaneously in various capitals around the world, including Nairobi.

Burundi and Liberia figured in the list for the first time, with low scores of 2.3 and 2.2 respectively reflecting their civil wars, Transparency International said.

“In the absence of real peace and security, the fight against corruption is an enormous challenge,” the report added.

Kenya, which has been lashed for tolerating corruption by former colonial power Britain and superpower the United States, had an unchanged score of 2.1, ranking it one of the worst in Africa and a dismal 144th of 158 nations around the globe.