Dr. Mohammed “Mo” Ibrahim

London, Oct. 4, 2017 (AltAfrika)-Respected Sudanese-British business mogul and philanthropist, Mo Ibrahim, has accused western and Chinese business class of aiding and abetting corruption in Africa

The president of Mo Ibrahim foundation who was speaking exclusively to Africanews at a special event during  the 2nd Africa Convergence in the Moroccan city of Casablanca said ” people outside Africa are those that fuel the much talked about corruption on the continent”.

Whiles admitting there is corruption in the continent “as is the case the world over”, Ibrahim, 61, slams corrupt business practices by foreign business people which cause the continent to lose huge sums of money whiles people continue to live in poverty.

“I think the corruption of Africa is taken totally out of context, Africa is no more corrupt than any other place around us. For every African leader was corrupt, we have a 1000 European, American, Chinese business people who are corrupt, where are those guys?

“Why only talk about African corruption. What about the Chinese corruption, American corruption and European corruption? We need to be really fair in looking at this issue of corruption. What about companies not paying taxes in Africa?

“What about profit shifting, mis-pricing ? There is a whole lot of corruption around us. What about anonymous companies? Companies whose official ownership is not known, where people hide their stolen money.

“All that are issues of corruption, so all that need to be discussed and let’s get away from the scenario that only African leaders have a monopoly of corruption is not true,” he said

His corruption stance has thus far been consistent after he condemned foreign companies operating in Africa for evading tax payment in April this year  during the Ibrahim governance forum held in Marrakech. His foundation seeks to reward African leaders who hand over power democratically at the end of their tenures.

It has, however, failed to produce a winner for the last two years. According to the independent Prize Committee chairman, Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, the second successive failure was due to the high standards and criteria the award holds.

Just as there is no winner for 2016, there were no winners for four previous years – 2009, 2010, 2012 2013 and 2015.