David Cameron was given a lot of stick this month after he was overheard referring to Nigeria and Afghanistan as ‘fantastically’ corrupt.
But we doubt he would want to use the same superlatives when talking about a claim, from a leading Mafia expert, that Britain is the most corrupt place in the world.
When it comes to such subjects Roberto Saviano is a man whose opinion carries some weight.
The journalist is living under police protection after publishing revelations about the Mafia in Naples in his expose Gomorrah and the international cocaine trade in ZeroZeroZero.
Th 36-year-old’s comments about the UK were made during the Hay Literary Festival where he told the audience why he felt Britain topped the charts for corruption.
He said: ‘If I asked you what is the most corrupt place on Earth you might tell me well it’s Afghanistan, maybe Greece, Nigeria, the South of Italy and I will tell you it’s the UK.
‘It’s not the bureaucracy, it’s not the police, it’s not the politics but what is corrupt is the financial capital. 90 per cent of the owners of capital in London have their headquarters offshore.
‘Jersey and the Cayman’s are the access gates to criminal capital in Europe and the UK is the country that allows it.
‘That is why it is important why it is so crucial for me to be here today and to talk to you because I want to tell you , this is about you, this is about your life, this is about your government.’
The UK is ranked 10th in the world in the latest Corruption perceptions Index by Transparency International.
We also played host to the Anti-Corruption Summit earlier this month.
But offshore tax havens were thrust in to the spotlight earlier this year when the Panama Papers were published by multiple news organisations.
As such, Mr Cameron pledged a global crackdown on corruption last month.
But the Prime Minister has faced calls to reform off shore tax havens operating on its own Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories – like Jersey and the Cayman islands.
Roberto Saviano on the EU
‘Leaving the EU means…. means allowing the Qatari societies, the Mexican cartels, the Russian Mafia to gain even more power and HSBC has paid £2 billion Euros in fines to the US government, because it confessed that it had laundered money coming from the cartels and the Iranian companies. We have proof, we have evidence.’
