A global survey of international perceptions of official corruption sees Spain down by six points to 40th place in the table following the latest, and seemingly endless, series of scandals.
Only Syria, currently embroiled in a devastating civil war, managed to lose more points in the survey, which was carried out by the Berlin-based Transparency International. Scandals involving cash channelled to Spain’s politicians and its royal family were the main reasons for the country losing points.
The top and bottom places were unchanged on 2012’s survey, with Denmark and New Zealand still joint first, while Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan tied for last place.
The UK is ranked in 14th place, up from 17 last year, with a score of 76 points out of 100.
In addition to Spain, other countries that were heavily marked down were The Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau and Libya.