TI: Russia, China Firms Bribe More

Russia and China, followed by Mexico, India and Brazil, ranked at the bottom of a recent survey by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI). Companies based in Belgium and Canada were rated the least likely to offer bribes.

TI’s new report, Bribe Payers Index 2008, ranked 22 of the world’s wealthiest and economically dominant countries by the likelihood of their companies to bribe abroad. Information for the survey came from nearly 3,000 senior business executives from companies in 26 developed and developing countries.
 
What the Bribe Payers Index Shows

“The Index provides evidence that a number of companies from major exporting countries still use bribery to win business abroad, despite awareness of its damaging impact on corporate reputations and ordinary communities,” said TI chair Huguette Labelle in a statement. “The inequity and injustice that corruption causes makes it vital for governments to redouble their efforts to enforce existing laws and regulations on foreign bribery and for companies to adopt effective anti-bribery programs.”

Juanita Riano, who co-authored TI’s report on the survey, said there was relatively little variation in the scores between the top and bottom ranking countries. Russia, with the worst score, received a 5.9 out of 10, while top scorers Belgium and Canada tied at 8.8.
“Even the top performers aren't scoring that well,” she told the AP. “There is a problem across all countries.”

This year’s report for the first time offered breakdowns of corruption by industry. TI found public works and construction to be the number one dirty industry in both bribery of public officials and in attempts to influence laws and other government rule-making by privately paying off public officials, a practice known as “state capture.” Other industries tainted by bribery in both sectors were real estate, oil and gas, mining and heavy industry.

-- Beth Kampschror