Emerging giants mired in graft as 66% of nations fail to score 50

Berlin

THE world's "up and coming economies" are struggling to shake off corruption, an anti-graft watchdog warned on Wednesday, citing massive scandals in Brazil and Malaysia as cause for concern.

In its "Corruption Perceptions Index 2015", Transparency International (TI) said the Latin American country showed the biggest decline in its ranking of 168 countries, slumping seven notches to 76th position over a kickbacks scandal engulfing state oil giant Petrobras.