Switzerland remains in twelfth place in Transparency International's global survey for 2003, having apparently made little recent progress on improving its image to the outside world according to the Berlin-based anti-corruption organisation.
The survey, which quizzes leading public servants, business chiefs and journalists in each of the 104 counties contained in the report, found the general perception of Switzerland was of a clean country, though concluding that there was still significant room for improvement.
According to Philippe Lévy, president of Transparency International’s Swiss chapter, the main problem continues to lay with the 'incestuous' links between the government and the business sector, exacerbated by the country's limited size. This, he says, tends to encourage nepotism and an 'old boys' network within the leadership of local and national government as well as other organisations such as the army.
Another factor that reflects negatively on Switzerland, says the TI report, is the fact that the government has yet to ratify the European Union's anti-corruption convention, plus the absence of 'whistle blower' legislation and a public office dedicated solely to stamping out corruption.
"In the past, we believed that corruption was something that existed everywhere else in the world except in Switzerland," observed Levy according to Swissinfo. "But nepotism, even if it doesn’t involve huge sums of money, nevertheless has negative implications… [of which] taxpayers and consumers are the victims."
The least corrupt nations according to Transparency International are Finland, Denmark and New Zealand. The United Kingdom was placed tenth, Hong Kong 14th and the United States 16th.
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