Singapore among top five nations to penalise corrupt officials: Survey

More than seven in 10 Singaporeans believe that corrupt government officials in the city-state will not be able to get away with their crimes, according to a recent survey.

The survey by the Washington-based World Justice Project (WJP) showed that 73% of Singaporeans believe that offenders, who misuse public funds, would be held accountable.

This placed Singapore at fifth out of 10 countries where the corrupt are strictly punished.

First was Botswana (88%), followed by New Zealand (79%), Norway (76%) and Hong Kong (75%).

Denmark and the UAE (with 70% each) were sixth and seventh, followed by the US (65%), the Netherlands (64%) and Hungary (63%).

Comparatively, the survey showed that a majority of people, 62% of individuals worldwide, believe that such corrupt officials would escape punishment even where evidence of wrongdoing was strong and the matter was raised in the media, said WJP spokesperson Laura Cochran.

"The survey results suggest that consequence-free corruption is widespread, and is a corrosive force on governments around the globe," said Cochran.

More than 70 of the 99 countries surveyed scored lower than 50%.

The worst performers included Uzbekistan, Argentina and Pakistan, where only three to 17% of people thought the offenders would be held accountable.

WJP is an independent organisation that works to advance the rule of law around the world.