1. 10. Venezuela
 Dictator Hugo Chavez
claims to work for the
people but the biggest
beneficiaries of his
authoritarian regime have
been friends and political
cronies. Venezuela ranks
175 out of 179 countries on
the Heritage Foundation’s
2011 Index of Economic
Freedom thanks to
diminishing freedom of
labour and widespread
expropriations of private
businesses.

2. 9. Haiti
 This Island nation declared
independence in 1804 and
less then two years latter its
first Emperor, Jean
Jacques Dessalines, was
shot and hacked to pieces
by citizens angry over
rampant corruption. Little
has since then. The 2010
earthquake death toll was
magnified by illegally
constructed buildings and
post-earthquake and
efforts have been hampered
by widespread government
corruption.

3. 8. Iraq
 Compared to reign of Saddam
Hussein, any government
would look good. But Iraq’s
Shiite leader s are widely
criticized by citizens for
corrupt dealings that deprive
the country of reliable water,
electricity and fuel supplies.
The head of the Iraqi
Parliament, Osama al-Nujaifi
in October complained of
“corruption mafias that seem
to spread through the
establishment like an
octopus”.

4. 7. Sudan
 Leave aside the fact that
Sudanese President Omar Al-
Bashir has been indicated by the
International Criminal Court for
war crimes and genocide. This
resource-rich nation has a
problem telling its citizens where
their money’s going. Global
witness last year uncovered a
$370 million discrepancy
between what the Chain National
Petroleum company reported
pumping from Sudanese fields
and what the government
reported receiving in royalties.
It’s a safe bet the money didn’t go
toward healthcare for the poor

5. 6. Turkmenistan
 “Corruption is pervasive” in this
recourse-rich nation, says the
State Dept., with power
concentrated in the hands of
President Gurbanguly
Berdimuhamedov. The
government controls most
sectors of the economy including
Turkmenistan’s vast natural gas
reserves, which make the country
the second-largest gas exporter
in the former Soviet Union after
Russia. Oil and Gas surpluses are
supposedly stored in a
stabilization fund although
Global Witness reports “there is
no evidence, other than the
president’s word, that such a
fund exists.”

6. 5. Uzbekistan
 President Islam Karimov, an
old Communist warhorse,
controls the legislature,
judiciary and media and
keeps getting elected by
suspiciously large margins-
88% of the vote December
2007. With the government
controlling the large swaths of
the economy, corruption and
oppression are getting worse
in most populous nation in
Central Asia. “Grades and
degrees are routinely
purchased” in the education
system, according to the U.S
state Dept.

7. 4. Afghanistan
 The U.S will be aggressively
pulling down troops from
Afghanistan next year,
leaving its citizens at the
mercy of a government that
has so far shown no
willingness to curb
corruption. The Pentagon
determined earlier this
year that four of eight
prime contractors in a $2.2
billion transportation
programme were
funnelling U.S funds to the
Taliban.

8. 3. Myanmar
 Secretary of State Hilary
Clinton’s visit to Myanmar
demonstrates a new
willingness to engage with the
country still known as Burma
to the U.S., following the
election of a civilian
government last year. But the
corruption, plundering of a
timber and other natural
resources and political
repression that led to
sanctions are still rampant.
One critic says the
government is composed
mostly of “generals who took
off their uniforms.”

9. 2. North Korea
 Narcotics, counterfeit bills and
illegal weapon sales are just the
way dictator Kim Jong-II makes
money from the rest of the world.
Inside this secretive nation,
government officials plunder
their own citizenry by demanding
bribes for everything from
permits to run market food stalls
to permission to leave one’s
hometown. With its hereditary
form of government and rigid
caste system, North Korea
resembles a poor, nuclear-
equipped version of Imperial
Japan.

10. 1. Somalia
 When it comes to corruption,
no nation can compare to
Somalia. Pirates seize ships at
will, the al-Shabaab
movement terrorizes much of
the country, and the most
ineffective Transitional
National Government
specializes in looting foreign
aid intended for starving
refugees. “The scale of the
TFG’s financial
haemorrhaging is so immense
that the term ‘corruption’
seems barely adequate,” says
U.N. Monitor Matt Bryden.