As others see us

The World-renowned expert on the Italian mafia Roberto Saviano has called the UK “the most corrupt country in the world.”

“If I asked you what is the most corrupt place on Earth, you might well tell me it’s Afghanistan, maybe Greece, Nigeria, the South of Italy, and I will tell you it’s the UK,” Saviano told the audience at Britain’s Hay Literary Festival.

“It’s not the bureaucracy, it’s not the police, it’s not the politics, but what is corrupt is the financial capital. Ninety percent of the owners of capital in London have their headquarters offshore,” he added. The UK is Europe’s “criminal capital” when it comes to allowing corruption, the journalist thinks, with the trust funds in Jersey and British Overseas Territory the Cayman Islands being its “access gates.”

Meanwhile, former CIA chief Michael Hayden said that the British demand less privacy and transparency from the intelligence services than US citizens.

“You as a population are far more tolerant of aggressive action on the part of your intelligence services than we are in the United States,” he said.