UK Prime Minister David Cameron named Nigeria and Afghanistan among “the most corrupt countries in the world” in a conversation with Queen Elizabeth II and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
Cameron, whose remarks were captured on video and broadcast by ITV News, was speaking to the queen about the countries attending an anti-corruption summit to be held in London on Thursday, according to wire service reports.
“We’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain,” Cameron is heard telling the queen during an event at Buckingham Palace to mark her 90th birthday.
“Nigeria and Afghanistan are possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.” It wasn’t clear whether the prime minister was aware the conversation was being recorded.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Afghanistan’s Ashraf Ghani are among the leaders attending the London summit.
“Corruption is an enemy of progress and the root of so many of the world’s problems,” Cameron said in the statement.
“It destroys jobs and holds back economic growth, traps the poorest in desperate poverty and undermines our security by pushing people towards extremist groups.”
Leaders including Buhari will be asked to sign a global declaration that promises to expose corruption, punish those responsible and help its victims, in a bid to tackle an issue that Cameron said has been a taboo for too long.
The summit marks the latest attempt by the U.K. leader to deal with the political fallout of millions of documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of which revealed he once owned a stake in an offshore fund linked to his father.
The revelations drew accusations of hypocrisy for Cameron and come as he fights to win a referendum over Britain’s membership of the European Union on June 23. The documents also led to the resignation of the Icelandic prime minister and two European bank executives, prompted street protests in Norway and caused problems for Argentine President Mauricio Macri, who subsequently pledged to put his assets in a blind trust.
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos are expected to attend the summit, along with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund managing director, according to the statement. A spokesman for Number 10 wouldn’t say if Macri had been invited, but said more details about the guest list will emerge over the coming days.
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