The postwar reconstruction of Iraq could be ruined by rampant corruption, an international survey said on Wednesday.

The survey, an annual list of countries held to be the most corrupt in their business dealings, said the future of Iraq depended on transparency in the oil sector.

"Without strict anti-bribery measures, the reconstruction of Iraq will be wrecked by a wasteful diversion of resources to corrupt elites," said Peter Eigen, chairman of the Transparency International watchdog which produced the survey. Transparency in procurement contracts was essential, he added.

The survey found that Iraq scored 2.1 out of a scale ranging from 10, highly clean, to 0, highly corrupt.

The Daily Star reported yesterday that for the second consecutive year Lebanon occupied a low rank, scoring 2.7, the same as Algeria, and less than Egypt (3.2) and Syria (3.4).

The survey calculated that at least $400 billion is lost to corruption every year around the globe with oil-producing nations among the worst offenders. Bribery is rampant in 60 countries, it said.

The Berlin-based group, funded by grants from development agencies and foundations around the world, is made up of lawyers, economists, businessmen and academics.

It found the most corrupt countries were Bangladesh, Haiti, Nigeria, Chad, Myanmar, Azerbaijan and Paraguay.

Singled out for particular scorn were oil producers Angola, Azerbaijan, Chad, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Nigeria, Russia, Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen.

"In these countries, public contracting in the oil sector is plagued by revenues vanishing into the pockets of Western oil executives, middlemen and local officials," Eigen said.

He called on Western governments to oblige their oil companies to publish what they pay in fees, royalties and other payments to host countries and state oil companies. He said the payment of kickbacks to secure oil tenders has blighted the oil industry in transition and postwar economies. - With agencies