SARAJEVO – Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan has been named the fourth most corrupt premier of the year by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) – an investigative news reporting platform for independent media outlets.
Reports said a six journalists panel studying and reporting on corruption curated the infamous list while this was the first time in ten years that the journalist panel took a unanimous decision.
OCCRP claimed that Erdogan, who claimed victory in a constitutional referendum, has overseen a corrupt setup that has laundered Chinese funds for Iranian oil using state-owned banks.
Finalists for the 2021 Corrupt Person of the Year
🇦🇫 Asraf Ghani
🇸🇾 Bashar Al-Assad
🇹🇷 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
🇦🇹 Sebastian KurzAnd the winner, 🇧🇾 Aleksandr Lukashenko.
See why our judges selected the Belarusian president. https://t.co/5dZxwMfOF4
— Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (@OCCRP) December 27, 2021
It also alleged Erdogan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, who also served as the country’s Finance Minister and came under criticism for financial corruption.
Meanwhile, the consortium of investigative centers has named president of Belarus Aleksandr G. Lukashenko as the most corrupt person of the year.
The other runner-ups for the list included former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad, and Australian chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
OCCRP co-founder Drew Sullivan said, it was a banner year for corruption, but Belarus premier stood out from the crowd.
🏆 We have a winner 🏆
The 2021 Corrupt Person of the Year is…
🇧🇾 Aleksandr Lukashenko 🇧🇾
Learn why our judges selected the President of Belarus over the other four finalists.https://t.co/5dZxwMfgPw
— Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (@OCCRP) December 27, 2021
Ashraf Ghani certainly deserves an award, too. He was breathtaking in both his corruption and his gross incompetence. The western supported politician deserted his people, leaving them to misery and death so he could live among the corrupt former state officials in the moral cesspool that is the UAE, he added.
Earlier in 2020, Brazil Jair Bolsonaro narrowly outclassed former US president Donald Trump and Turkish president for the title. Other previous winners include Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
