Archive for January, 2010
Global Corruption Index: Which country is rated worst.
The 2009 survey of global corruption carried out by Transparency International, the German-based organization that annually ranks the performance of 180 countries, shows there’s no room for complacency. “At a time when massive stimulus packages, fast-track disbursements of public funds and attempts to secure peace are being implemented around the world,” it says, “it is essential to identify where corruption blocks good governance and accountability, in order to break its corrosive cycle.” Corruption, financial crime, anti-money laundering are the focus of this important survey which puts many developed and emerging countries under the forensic investigation blowtorch.
One country that’s redeemed itself is Australia, which has risen to eighth spot in 2009 from ninth in 2008. It held top spot in 2002, when it was considered the least likely nation in the world to allow corruption. That was before the exposure of dealings by the Australian Wheat Board with the Iraqi Government of Saddam Hussein. Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has New Zealand replacing Denmark in top place. The CPI is a composite index that draws on 13 expert and business surveys to measure the perceived levels of public sector corruption in any given country. In the important regional breakdown of the Index, Australia ranked third for the Asia-Pacific, behind New Zealand and Singapore.
Overall, most of the 180 countries still scored under five on a zero-to-ten scale, with zero perceived as highly corrupt and 10 to mean low levels of corruption. The challenge, therefore, remains undeniable. Highest scorers in 2009 were New Zealand at 9.4, Denmark at 9.3, Singapore and Sweden at 9.2, and Switzerland at 9.0. Australia, Canada and Iceland came in at 8.7. Fragile, unstable states that are scarred by war and ongoing conflict rated lowest, with Somalia at 1.1, Afghanistan at 1.3, Myanmar at 1.4, and Sudan at 1.5.
Viral Email Destroys Career and Embarrasses Employer
By mid-December, many offices around the world are customarily infused with the Christmas spirit. But one young London woman got the fright of her life when she found that her contribution had suddenly taken on global dimensions. The British media ran with her story on December 12 and it rolled on from there.
It started when graduate trainee, Holly Leam-Taylor, planned an awards ceremony to name the most attractive men in her office. Thinking this would be a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun, she emailed a small number of female colleagues at City accountancy firm Deloitte asking them to vote. With nine categories such as “Fittest body” and “Boy most likely to sleep his way to the top”, her message certainly grabbed attention. So much so that the email was forwarded around the world, spreading like wildfire over the internet. Soon millions of people had read it. But it wasn’t such a laughing matter for her managers and less than 24 hours after sending the email, Ms Leam-Taylor felt obliged to resign. A graduate in management from Warwick University, she had joined Deloitte as a consultant analyst in August 2009 on an estimated $45,000 a year.
Speaking from the Surrey home where she lives with her parents, the 22-year-old said, “It was just a lighthearted joke to celebrate Christmas. It’s a complete shock that one email could spread like this and who would think it could get so far out of hand? In retrospect, it was a stupid thing to do but there wasn’t anything controversial or sexist in there. But if I could take it back I would and I will be so, so careful about sending any emails in future.” She hit the send button on her Christmas Awards email on Tuesday, December 8, and when she arrived at her office the next day found her inbox full. “It was crazy,” she said. “I had so many emails from all over the world saying I had made people’s day and that I’d put a smile on their face. I had loads of emails from men in the office nominating themselves for various categories and everyone thought it was hilarious. But once I realised it had been forwarded outside the office I realised both Deloitte’s and my reputation had been damaged so I decided to hand my notice in there and then.”
Ms Leam-Taylor sent her letter of resignation at 3.00 p.m. on Wednesday and left the office. She insists she was not asked to do so, but thought she should jump before she was pushed, adding that, “In all our contracts it says we mustn’t use our emails for personal use so I knew I was in breach of that.”
