Russia tops business bribes survey

PARIS, France -- Russian companies are the most likely to offer or pay bribes for contracts in emerging market countries, according to a survey.

German-based corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) revealed on Tuesday the results of an investigation carried out in the 15 emerging market countries that trade most with multinational corporations.

Heading its Bribe Payers Index 2002 survey was Russia, followed by South Korea, Italy, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, and the United States.

Australia was the country least likely to offer or pay bribes, followed by Sweden, Switzerland, Austria and Canada.

TI chairman Peter Eigen was due to present the findings at a news conference in Paris on Tuesday.

He said in a statement: "Politicians and public officials from the world's leading industrial countries are ignoring the rot in their own backyards and the criminal bribe-paying activities of multinational firms headquartered in their countries, while increasingly focusing on the high level of corruption in developing countries.

"The governments of the richest nations continue to fail to recognise the rampant undermining of fair global trade by bribe-paying multinational enterprises."

Eigen said many of the countries named in the index have laws making corrupt payments to foreign officials a crime.

He said: "The laws are not being properly enforced. Our new survey leaves no doubt that large numbers of multinational corporations from the richest nations are pursuing a criminal course to win contracts in the leading emerging market economies of the world."

He said the forthcoming meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and then the G8 Summit provided "the leaders of the industrial world with an opportunity to confront this critical situation."

European countries mostly occupied the middle ground in the 26-state survey, which TI conducted between last December and March by polling leading businessmen, bankers, companies, auditors and chambers of commerce.

Russia was not in TI's first Bribe Payers Index in 1999, which found Chinese firms the most corrupt, followed by South Korean and Taiwanese companies.

This year's country with the cleanest companies, Australia, was second in 1999 to Sweden, this year's runner up.

The 2002 BPI was conducted in 15 emerging market countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and Thailand.