Transparency International named on Wednesday Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak along with former Tunisian president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali as two of the world’s most symbolic cases of grand corruption.
The two former Arab presidents are among 13 other names in the Unmask the Corrupt campaign, aiming to highlight the most symbolic cases of grand corruption.
The anti-corruption organisation defines grand corruption as “the abuse of high-level power that benefits the few at the expense of the many, and causes serious harm to individuals and society. It often goes unpunished and concerns millions of victims around the world”.
According to the organisation, Mubarak was included in the list on the basis of being accused of “diverting one billion dollars from Egyptian people” and that there is a “little political will to bring him and his family to justice”. Ben Ali however was included for being accused of “stealing up to US$2.6 billion from Tunisians” and because his “cronies could escape justice”.
The organisation has previously criticised the court decision to acquit Mubarak of corruption charges in 2014, and described the ruling as a “serious setback”.
The 15 corruption cases were picked from 383 submissions from the public, where a team of experts was responsible for selecting the final cases. The selection criteria included the use of beneficial ownership or anonymous companies, human rights abuses, and the scale of corruption involved.
The list included political leaders and multi-national companies that are alleged to have massively abused their power and severely harmed society, including US State of Delaware, FIFA and former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.
People will cast their votes online starting Wednesday until 9 February 2016 to choose the most symbolic cases of grand corruption.
