Britain's Queen Elizabeth, second left, speaks with Prime Minister David Cameron, second right, as leader of the House of Commons Chris Grayling, right, and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, center, watch during a reception in Buckingham Palace to mark the The Queen's 90th birthday, in London, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (Paul Hackett/Pool Photo via AP)
Republished May 10, 2016 - 4:29 PM
Original Publication Date May 10, 2016 - 7:50 AM
LONDON - British Prime Minister David Cameron was caught on microphone Tuesday saying that leaders of "fantastically corrupt" countries including Nigeria and Afghanistan will attend an anti-corruption summit in London this week.
Cameron will bring together politicians, officials, businesspeople and civil-society groups from around the world Thursday as part of efforts to clamp down on bribery, money-laundering and other forms of wrongdoing.
At a Buckingham Palace reception with Queen Elizabeth II, a television microphone caught Cameron saying "we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain."
He referred to "Nigeria and Afghanistan — possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world."
Transparency International ranked Afghanistan 166th of 168 countries in its 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index. Nigeria was 136th.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani — elected in 2015 and 2014, respectively — have promised to curb corruption in their countries.
Both are due to attend Thursday's meeting, which hopes to produce a global declaration against corruption and break what Cameron has called the "taboo about tackling this issue head-on."
Buhari spokesman Garba Shehu reacted on social media, using an official account to say Cameron was embarrassing Nigerians despite Buhari's "good work" on fighting corruption.
"The prime minister must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria. Things are changing with corruption and everything else," he wrote.
Cameron's 10 Downing St. office said the prime minister knew there were "multiple cameras in the room" when he spoke.
A spokesman said that Buhari and Ghani "have been invited to the summit because they are driving the fight against corruption in their countries. The U.K. stands shoulder to shoulder with them as they do so."
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This story has been corrected to say Nigeria's president was elected in 2015, instead of 2014.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016