Multinationals seem to be driving a lot of the corruption in poor Third World countries, says anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.

According to its 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index, which looks at perceptions of public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, New Zealand, Denmark and Finland are seen as the last corrupt places but Australia, United Kingdom, US, Japan and Germany are not exactly leading the way.

They have been slotted into the middle of the pack. Not quite the most corrupt places - that's reserved for Myanmar, Somalia and Iraq - but not squeaky clean either.

You can see the complete table here.

The report makes it clear that bribe money often stems from multinationals based in the world's richest countries and that offshore financing played a significant role in the looting of millions from developing countries such as Nigeria and the Philippines, both of which are ranked pretty well near the bottom of the list. So the poor countries are corrupt but that's partly because of the rich multinationals.

TI chairwoman Huguette Labelle has slammed the multinationals for having double standards, reports the Financial Times.

"The bribe money that buys a champagne lifestyle for corrupt officials in the poorest countries often originates in multinational companies based in the world's richest countries - the CPI's top scorers", she said.