Ashraf Ghani, Alexander Lukashenko among most corrupt leaders of 2021? Here's the list

As per the data of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) which is a non-profit investigative news reporting platform for independent media outlets around the world, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, disgraced Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and former Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai are amongst the most corrupt leaders of 2021. 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

According to OCCRP, Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, generated headlines over the past year for:

• Channelling state money to a series of oligarchs close to the Lukashenko family
• Intercepting a Ryanair passenger plane carrying a Belarusian dissident and forcing it to land in Minsk, in violation of international laws on aviation
• Manufacturing a border crisis with the European Union by luring thousands of refugees to the borders of the bloc
• Promulgating misinformation and fake cures for COVID

Lukashenko enjoys unlimited power at home and sniffs at international opprobrium. Indeed, it was EU sanctions against his country that prompted his retaliation via refugees, the OCCRP opined. 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Bashar al-Assad had led Syria into a horrifying civil war and is accused of stealing millions of dollars while he was in power, as per OCCRP. Last month, the Biden administration had expressed strong opposition to re-engaging with Syria's Bashar Assad after the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates met with Syria’s once widely shunned president in Damascus.

Former Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani

Drew Sullivan, a co-founder of OCCRP, said that Ashraf Ghani deserves such an award due to his corruption and incompetence. "Ghani certainly deserves an award, too. He was breath-taking in both his corruption and his gross incompetence. He 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," said Sullivan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan & Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz

Erdogan has overseen a corrupt government that has laundered Chinese funds for Iranian oil using state-owned banks and Kurz was the leader of Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) who, along with nine other politicians and newspaper persons, was accused of embezzlement and bribery, stated OCCRP. 

Image: AP