British Prime Minister David Cameron was caught on camera telling Queen Elizabeth that leaders of some “fantastically corrupt” countries, including Nigeria and Afghanistan, were due to attend his anti-corruption summit.
The video of the meeting obtained by Reuters went viral during the period when President Muhammadu Buhari was airborne to the United Kingdom.
John Kerry, US secretary of state; Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); and Jim Yong Kim, World Bank president, are some of the dignitaries expected at the meeting, which will also have Ibrahim Magu, Nigeria’s anti-graft czar, in attendance.
“We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning, talking about our anti-corruption summit,” Cameron told the queen.
“Everything has to be open… There are no sort of closed-door sessions. Everything has to be in front of the press. It’s going to be…It could be quite interesting.
“We have got the Nigerians – actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain.
“Nigeria and Afghanistan – possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world.
The queen did not respond to Cameron’s comment but the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “But this particular president is actually not corrupt.”
Nigeria is at number 136 in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index, while Afghanistan is 166.