Lack of transparency, accountability and good governance, remain main reasons behind the epidemic levels of corruption worldwide.

Almost two thirds of world nations suffer from significant levels of corruption.

Transparency International says the financial crisis and climate change fuelled corruption in some nations, although war-torn countries remain at the bottom of the list.

The findings indicate a serious worldwide corruption problem and highlight the need to make more efforts to towards strong governance structures across the globe.

Is corruption a local issue or has it become a global disease? And can there be a global mechanism to fight it?

Joining the programme are Robin Hodess, the director of policy and research at Transparency International, Sam Vaknin, a fomer senior business correspondent for United Press International, and was an economic adviser to the Macedonian government, and David Cole, the managing director of the think tank - the Atlantic Council UK.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Tuesday, October 26, 2010.