President William Ruto has received record-breaking nominations for this year’s Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) ‘Corrupt Person of the Year’ title.

OCCRP is a global network of investigative journalists founded in 2006, specialising in organised crime and corruption.

Since 2012, OCCRP has dedicated the ‘Person of the Year’ Award to recognise “ an individual or institution that has done the most to advance organised criminal activity and corruption in the world.”

The organisation invited public nominations for the title in November.

Per the results released on Monday, deposed Syrian ex-President Bashar Al-Assad was ranked the world’s ‘Most Corrupt Person’ with Kenya’s Head of State closely following as the first runners-up.

Ruto’s Number 2 ranking happened despite the fact that, by the organisation’s own admission, the Kenyan president “received the most public nominations in OCCRP history — over 40,000.”