Fifa scandal should prompt global corruption purge - Cameron

Prime Minister David Cameron is urging a global crackdown on the "cancer" of corruption in the wake of Fifa bribery allegations.

He will use the G7 summit in Germany to call for an international effort to clean up government and business.

And he will condemn the international "taboo" on pointing the finger at corrupt institutions.

Fourteen people have been charged by the US over alleged corruption at world football's governing body.

The US justice department alleges that the 14 accepted bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than $150m (£97m) over a 24-year period.

Open discussion

British officials said David Cameron would speak of a "cancer of corruption that poisons and stifles" the progress the G7 hopes to make on development and growth, and that the kind of scrutiny being applied to Fifa should not be restricted to the footballing body.

He is not, however, expected to name organisations and businesses that he would like to see put under the spotlight.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter gives a press conference at the headquarters of the world football's ruling body in Zurich. World football governing body FIFA announced on May 27, 2011 — Sepp Blatter has said he will step down as Fifa president

The UK prime minister will join US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Italian PM Matteo Renzi, Canadian PM Stephen Harper and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe for the two-day G7 summit, hosted at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Mrs Merkel has put climate change and sustainable development at the top of the agenda for the annual summit of the world's leading industrialised economies, which gets under way on Sunday.

The talks will also focus on growth, security and the threat from terrorism and disease epidemics.

But Mr Cameron will argue that the issue of corruption has a bearing on all these areas and must be discussed openly as part of the talks.

He will cite World Bank estimates that corruption adds 10% to business costs worldwide, with the equivalent of one trillion US dollars (£650bn) paid in bribes every year.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) believes corruption costs about 5% of global GDP annually, while in developing countries it can add 25% to the cost of procurement, Mr Cameron will say.

Seven of the 10 countries considered to be the most corrupt in sub-Saharan Africa are also in the bottom 10 on the human development index and infant mortality is twice as high in countries with the most corruption as in those with the least.

Mr Cameron will say that there is an onus on world leaders to do what they can to tackle the issue.

He will call for action in the coming months to focus the efforts of the various international organisations tasked with combating corruption to ensure that they are working effectively with one another.

Anti-corruption measures should be at the heart of the new United Nations development goals for the coming 15 years, due to be agreed in September, he will say.