While the world's least corrupt countries should certainly be applauded for their levels of openness and transparency, even the most virtuous examples of good governance aren't immune to dishonest dealings.

Read on to discover the corruption issues facing the best-scoring nations on Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which ranks 180 countries and territories on a scale from zero (out-and-out corrupt) to 100 (squeaky-clean).

All dollar amounts in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Chile may be one of the least corrupt countries on the planet, but it still has a long way to go before it can feel completely virtuous. According to Transparency International it's "not prioritising the fight against corruption". A succession of political corruption and tax evasion scandals sparked a year of protests in the South American country, culminating in a referendum in October 2020.

An overwhelming 78% of Chilean people voted in favour of rewriting the country's constitution. However, this seems to have had little effect on corruption, with "growing organised crime" one of the nation's top concerns.

The UAE may be the least corrupt country in the Middle East, but its record is hardly unblemished. The biggest issue the nation faces is its woefully inadequate anti-money laundering framework, with complex and opaque company and property ownership structures making it all too easy to embezzle funds in the country.

In fact, the UAE has been embroiled in several major cross-border corruption scandals over the past few years. One notable example is the Luanda Leaks affair, concerning a dossier of 715,000 emails, charts, contracts, audits, and accounts that seeks to show how the former president of Angola's daughter Isabel dos Santos built her $2 billion (£1.4bn) fortune, which three separate countries have now frozen. She adopted the UAE as her country of residence after the scandal.

Transparency International notes that the UAE has also begun to show "worrying signs of decline", including a reluctance amongst citizens to speak out against corruption in the face of harsh government penalties.

China might consider it a province of the People's Republic, but Taiwan – which has effectively been independent since the 1950s – has fared much better in the Corruption Perceptions Index than its neighbour. 

After climbing the rankings between 2020 and 2021, Taiwan maintained its CPI score of 68 last year. China, by contrast, scored just 45 points. But Taiwan hasn't managed to distance itself entirely. In November last year, for example, Taiwanese prosecutors announced they'd charged a senior military officer who accepted bribes from China and even wrote a letter promising to surrender if Beijing invaded.

Like Taiwan, Bhutan's CPI score hasn't changed since 2020. One of the highest-scoring countries in Asia, Bhutan has won plaudits for its openness and transparency, and the Himalayan kingdom's anti-corruption commission is one of the most effective in the region.

Ironically, however, the commission itself has accountability and oversight issues that need to be addressed, according to Transparency International, and more needs to be done within the country to tackle bribery in public procurement and cross-border trade.

In 2020, the US hit its lowest position on the CPI since 2012, largely due to transparency issues surrounding its multitrillion-dollar COVID-19 relief package. At 69 points, its score has increased by two points in the latest rankings. The index only covers public sector corruption and doesn't take into account any shady activity within the private sector. In America, this can range from dubious banking practices – the US tops the Financial Secrecy Index – to industrial-scale money laundering and bribery of foreign officials.

However, there has been improvement in recent times. In January 2021, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act to tackle money laundering and crack down on anonymous shell companies. Transparency International has also highlighted the "meaningful and appropriate accountability actions" taken after the Capitol riots of 6 January 2021.

Seychelles, which gained four points in the 2021 rankings and maintained its score this year, is the least corrupt country in sub-Saharan Africa. Its CPI score of 70 is significantly above the regional average, which sits at just 32. Despite this, Mary De Silva, CEO of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles, has said the archipelago "cannot be complacent".

She cited a recent bill that will remove the requirement for spouses and family members of government officials to declare their assets as an example of the financial secrecy that makes Seychelles an "attractive destination for dirty money from around the world".

Austria, identified as a country to watch by Transparency International in 2021, has dropped another place since the previous report. The nation's Achilles heel is its poor protection for whistleblowers. The country continues to lack a specific law safeguarding the rights of whistleblowers, with protections particularly few and far between in the private sector. In 2019, the coalition government collapsed after a video emerged of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache offering to compromise himself to Russian interests in exchange for funding.

And Austria has seen more corruption investigations in recent years. In autumn 2021, then-chancellor Sebastian Kurz was investigated for the misuse of public funds and lying while testifying to a parliamentary commission. Kurz subsequently resigned as chancellor. Transparency International notes: "The government also urgently needs to move ahead with reforms to increase lobbying transparency and freedom of information – where a lack of progress was reportedly criticised by the Council of Europe's anti-corruption monitoring body."

They say corruption starts at the top and the adage certainly rings true in France. In March 2021, former president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of bribing a judge in exchange for information about the inquiry into his own allegedly illegal campaign funds. Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in prison, two years of which would be suspended. Sarkozy appealed the ruling.

France's corruption score has stagnated over the last decade, improving by just one point relative to last year. According to the president of Transparency International's French arm, the country has a "lack of resources allocated to justice and to the economic and financial police", and there were "worrying signals" of corruption during Emmanuel Macron's first presidential term. The latest report also highlights the Uber Files, a trove of leaked records that revealed large private companies enjoy privileged, off-the-record access to top politicians. Among the alleged offenders was Macron, who reportedly held 17 secret meetings with Uber representatives in 18 months.

The UK lost five points on the index between 2017 and 2020 and has lost another five between 2021 and 2022. It's far from corruption-free. London has long been described as the money laundering capital of the world, with a loophole in UK law allowing foreign companies to buy property without revealing their identity. This leaves the country open to dirty money, and 75% of properties investigated between 2004 and 2015 had been purchased through anonymous offshore companies.

In 2021, Transparency International identified the UK as one of the nations that "urgently need to act" to tackle corruption following the publication of the Pandora Papers, which revealed that $7 billion (£5.2bn) worth of UK property was purchased via these anonymous companies. And the situation didn't improve in 2022. The latest report lists the UK as a "country to watch", citing "worryingly low" public trust in the government, the appointment of people with political connections to senior roles during the COVID-19 pandemic, and systematic bias in the awarding of PPE contracts. 

A series of governmental scandals have sullied Japan's reputation over the last few years, with surveys showing the majority of citizens believe that state corruption is a serious problem. The country has dropped one place in the CPI ranking compared to 2020. In January 2021, for example, 10 land ministry officials had their salaries cut after it was revealed they'd been rewriting data in their monthly orders for around two decades.

Other issues brought to light by Transparency International include the country's feeble company ownership rules and abysmal record for fighting foreign bribery. In fact, there's no public information on foreign bribery enforcement and no information on beneficial ownership of companies and trusts.

After dropping to its lowest ranking in a decade in 2020, Belgium's CPI score has been stagnant since 2021. Transparency International notes that "there is still no overarching integrity framework for ministers" in the country, and there are also limited resources available to law enforcement agencies for battling foreign bribery. In 2020, for example, Brussels-based Semlex, a company that deals in biometric documents and passports, faced accusations that it used bribes and insider deals to land contracts around the globe, particularly in Africa.

On the plus side, the 2022 report acknowledges that the country is ramping up investigations into the foreign bribery of Members of the European Parliament and their staff. 

The government of Uruguay has been working hard to stamp out corruption, having passed a wide-ranging anti-money laundering law in 2018. These measures have seen the South American nation's CPI score increase from 73 to 74 in 2022. Despite this progress, however, the country remains a hotspot for corrupt individuals and organisations keen to stash away their dirty cash. There's also a lack of oversight of shell companies, which can be used to launder money and pay bribes.

In 2020, Chavismo Inc, an investigation led by Transparencia Venezuela, the Alianza Rebelde Investiga (ARI), and the Latin American journalistic platform Connectas, revealed links between the Venezuelan government and private banks and politicians in Uruguay, and allegedly found evidence of money laundering. Despite that, the rankings paint Uruguay as the "least corrupt [country] in a corrupt continent", with Transparency International singling the nation out for its effective handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transparency International has described Iceland as "hardly as pure as the driven snow". Despite the country's angelic image as a corruption-free paradise, it's had its fair share of scandals involving politicians and big businesses. The 2008 financial crisis exposed its banks' shady practices, and former Prime Minister Geir Haarde was even put on trial. However, he was only found guilty of one charge related to not holding a cabinet meeting when the situation became severe.

In 2019, the Fishrot Files were released via WikiLeaks, which uncovered corruption at Icelandic fish company Samherji and suggested that it used a shell company in the Marshall Islands to launder proceeds from illegal fishing in Namibia and bribe officials there. Iceland was also lambasted in an OECD report, which derided the nation's anti-foreign bribery efforts.

Iceland's score hasn't changed since 2021, with Transparency International claiming it's one of many European nations "yet to address shortcomings in their political integrity frameworks".

Neck and neck with Uruguay and Iceland in terms of its score, Estonia is the least corrupt country in Eastern Europe by a long shot. Nonetheless, it's not without fault. In January 2021, the government collapsed, and Prime Minister Jüri Ratas resigned following the launch of a property-related corruption investigation into one of the country's coalition parties.

Work is also needed to toughen up the country's ineffectual financial oversight and anti-dirty money regulations, which enabled Danske Bank Estonia to pull off one of the world's biggest known money laundering scandals in the country. The shocking misconduct saw €200 billion ($243bn/£175bn) of suspicious money pass through the Estonian arm of the Danish bank between 2007 and 2015, a scandal that "continues to haunt" the country, Transparency International said in 2021.

Joining Uruguay, Iceland and Estonia in joint 14th place is Canada. The country might score significantly higher than its North American neighbour, but it's in no position to gloat as it has some corruption issues of its own. Along with the USA and Australia, Canada is one of the biggest fallers in the rankings, having lost 10 points over the last decade, although its CPI hasn't changed since 2021. 

Currently, its anti-money laundering regulations cover only certain professions and organisations, and it's relatively easy to set up a shell company that can be used to hide away dirty money and purchase property without revealing identities. In fact, in 2020, as many as a third of the 100 most expensive properties in Greater Vancouver were owned anonymously.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Minister of Finance Bill Morneau have been investigated over claims they awarded a CA$43 million ($31.9m/£26.6m) contract to an organisation with links to their families. Only Trudeau was cleared of wrongdoing.

Over the last decade, Australia has slipped down the rankings significantly, losing 12 points between 2012 and 2021. But the situation is improving. The latest report has seen Australia's CPI increase by 2 points, with Transparency International acknowledging that the nation is "undertaking key actions to combat corruption".

These actions include the passing of legislation to establish a National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in November last year. The NACC is an independent body that "will prevent, detect, investigate and report on serious or systemic corruption in the Commonwealth public sector", according to its official website, including "conduct that occurred before or after it was established."

In spite of the territory's high CPI score, which has declined by only one point since 2020 and stayed the same from 2021 to 2022, Transparency International has dubbed Hong Kong a "transnational corruption hub". The Special Administrative Region of China has failed to confront foreign bribery and shore up rules and regulations around shell companies, which have exploded in number in recent years and can easily be used to mask large-scale money laundering schemes.

The Pandora Papers also revealed that companies in Hong Kong have shielded the financial dealings of high-level people such as oligarchs and billionaires.

While Luxembourg has taken important steps towards increased transparency, including the launch of a public beneficial ownership register in 2019, the tiny European country remains a secretive tax haven where foreign entities can hide their cash with relative ease. More than 80% of the country's investment funds still haven't declared a beneficial owner to the Luxembourg register, according to Delano, and the LuxLeaks scandal in November 2014 revealed tax rulings between Luxembourg and companies around the world that aimed to reduce their tax payments.

This revelation led to an EU Directive for Whistleblower Protection in March 2019 (though as of October 2023, EU members Poland and Estonia are still yet to adopt the directive into their own legislation). As is the case in many other top-scoring nations, anti-foreign bribery legislation is rarely enforced in Luxembourg, and while the country's CPI score has increased by one point since 2021, it's still four points down compared to 2015.

In contrast to many countries on the list, Ireland has been climbing up the rankings, gaining two points between 2020 and 2021 and another three between 2021 and 2022. 

The country has robust safeguards in place to counter unethical lobbying and political donations and passed legislation last year to upgrade its anti-money laundering framework. However, Ireland is still falling short in its anti-corruption drive, says Transparency International.

According to reports, jailed Uzbek socialite Gulnara Karimova laundered between $100 million and $300 million (£74.4m–£221m) through funds based in Dublin, contributing to Ireland's reputation as a "safe haven for dirty money". 

Prior to 2022, Germany maintained its CPI score of 80 for four years in a row. In the latest report, this number has dropped to 79, partly due to the ties between the nation's Climate and Environmental Protection Foundation and the Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom, which Germany had tried to conceal. According to Transparency International, the foundation allegedly influenced state officials on Gazprom's behalf to lobby for the Nord Stream 2.0 pipeline, now suspended due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

This latest controversy comes after German politicians were forced to resign due to their involvement in a face mask scandal after it was reported that they'd used bribes to broker PPE procurement deals at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Netherlands has dropped below 82 for the first time since 2017 in the latest report, with a new CPI of 80. The country is apparently "among the weakest when it comes to lobbying oversight" and also scored comparatively badly in battling cross-border corruption. According to Transparency International, "companies or individuals are still almost never brought to court in connection with corruption abroad".

With plum tax arrangements available to foreign companies, the Netherlands is also well on its way to becoming a tax haven. Meanwhile, the country's Court of Audit lodged a complaint against the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport in 2021 after noticing irregularities in its COVID-19 spending. The complaint was withdrawn after the Ministry announced it would improve its financial management. 

The public sector in Switzerland is far more open and transparent than most other countries, hence its high ranking in the index. The same can't be said about the country's private sector, however. Its banking industry, in particular, is famously secretive. This, combined with lax money laundering regulations and poor whistleblower protections, have long made the nation a magnet for dirty cash. 

Switzerland received its lowest-ever CPI score in 2022, with Transparency International highlighting the fact that Swiss parliamentarians are allowed to keep paid positions alongside political ventures as a "particular concern".

Sweden has dropped two points since the 2021 rankings. Although it still scores highly, its decreasing CPI could point to "a serious societal trend", according to Transparency International. The regulatory framework used to stop criminals hoarding money in the country is pretty flimsy, and many see the Nordic nation as a soft touch.

Swedbank, one of the nation's leading financial institutions, was fined a record $400 million (£289m) in 2020 for its lack of sufficient money laundering controls. Although the country is one of the few nations that actually implemented EU Directives on money laundering and whistleblower protections by the appointed date, with the Whistleblowing Act coming into force on 17 December 2021, it hasn't had a positive effect on the nation's CPI. What's more, last year's Nordic Business Ethics Survey revealed that the majority of employees in Swedish companies have witnessed some sort of "ethical irregularities" at work.

As Asia's least corrupt country by some margin, Singapore has plenty to be proud of. But its 2022 ranking is the nation's lowest in five years, and a toxic combination of secrecy and minimal financial regulation in the private sector has made the city-state an alluring destination for money launderers. According to Transparency International's regional Asia adviser, Ilham Mohamed, Singapore also lacks anti-corruption organisations that aren't run by the government, as well as civil spaces for people to expose and speak out against corruption.

Like Hong Kong, Singapore was named and shamed in the 2021 Pandora Papers, which found that law firms and corporate service providers in the country have historically shielded dubious financial dealings on behalf of wealthy clients. 

Norway has lost one point in the latest index, with a current CPI score of 84. According to recent studies, one of the key corruption issues in the country is the lack of transparency when it comes to the ownership of high-value real estate, with around 10,000 properties reportedly owned through companies that are registered in tax havens.

Along with Iceland, Norway also appeared in the aforementioned Fishrot Files as its state-owned bank DNB was shown to have facilitated laundered money for the shell companies from illegal fishing. In May 2021, DNB was fined over $48 million (£35.7m) for flouting Norway's anti-money laundering act. 

A relative bastion of openness and transparency, Finland is rightly admired for its low levels of corruption and has maintained its high position for the second year running. In October 2019, however, the OECD Working Group on Bribery blasted the Finnish government for its failure to enforce foreign bribery laws, expressing concern over the country's high acquittal rate for this sort of crime.

With a current CPI score of 87, Finland has lost one point since 2021's ranking and Transparency International has noted the nation is "yet to address shortcomings in [its] political integrity frameworks".

Joining Finland as one of the least corrupt countries on the planet, New Zealand is admired far and wide. But it's certainly not perfect.

Since 2021's report the nation's CPI has fallen from 88 to 87, meaning 2022 is only the third year since 2006 when New Zealand hasn't ranked first or joint first. Transparency International notes that the country is "gradually trending down", identifying factors such as its heavy trade with China – which scores just 45 out of 100 on the index – and the fact that it can be difficult for authorities to trace the true owners of New Zealand-registered trusts.

Jacinda Ardern resigned from her role as prime minister in January, with Chris Hipkins taking over before losing a general election in October. It remains to be seen whether the country's ranking will change under incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon. Watch this space...

Denmark has maintained its position at the top of the rankings since 2021 and even increased its CPI score from 88 to 90. The nation is lauded the world over for its low levels of corruption. However, as we've seen, even the most virtuous countries have their faults.

Indeed, one of the world's biggest known money-laundering schemes involved a Danish bank, when around €200 billion ($243bn/£175bn) of suspicious money passed through the Estonian branch of Danske Bank between 2007 and 2015. The bank has also been accused of helping Germany's Deutsche Bank to pass more than $600 million (£433m) in suspicious trades through Danske Bank branches in Lithuania over the same time period.

These scandals were allegedly helped along by Denmark's inadequate financial regulation. Although regulations have since been tightened, the nation's anti-bribery laws remain limited. In fact, Transparency International has downgraded Denmark's foreign bribery rating to "little or no enforcement" in the latest report.

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