This Mafia expert says the UK is the most corrupt country in the world

Author Roberto Saviano has revealed the country he believes to be the most corrupt in the world.

Saviano wrote Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero, exposing the underworld of the Italian Mafia in Naples, and has been living under police protection since 2006 because of threats made against him. Obviously, the man is an expert in corruption and shady dealings, so we're taking it that he's right about this one. The Independent report that Saviano gave a talk the Hay Literary Festival and he told the audience that the most corrupt place on earth in his view is, in fact, the UK. He added that it wasn't a corrupt police service or bureaucracy that made him form this view, but the financial dealings in the country.

“It’s not the bureaucracy, it’s not the police, it’s not the politics but what is corrupt is the financial capital. 90 per cent of the owners of capital in London have their headquarters offshore."

“Jersey and the Cayman Islands are the access gates to criminal capital in Europe, and the UK is the country that allows it. That is why it is important, why it is so crucial for me to be here today and to talk to you because I want to tell you: this is about you, this is about your life, this is about your government.”

The UK has been in the spotlight for months now for its attitude towards offshore tax havens, and prime minister David Cameron was caught up in the recent Panama Papers scandal. https://twitter.com/Simon_Cullen/status/718392343313969152 Saviano also warned against the UK leaving the EU, saying that it would only leave the country more vulnerable to organised criminals. He said:

“Leaving the EU means allowing this to take place. It means allowing the Qatari societies, the Mexican cartels, the Russian Mafia to gain even more power and HSBC has paid £2 billion Euros in fines to the US government, because it confessed that it had laundered money coming from the cartels and the Iranian companies. We have proof, we have evidence.”

Saviano's most famous work, Gomorrah, has been adapted into an acclaimed movie and a popular TV series, which Ricky Gervais was recently raving about. https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/733041576604241920 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4QORgagblU   (Lead Image via Alchetron.com)