Australian firms 'least likely to pay bribes'

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Australian companies are the least likely to pay bribes to win business in developing countries, according to a new survey by the global anti-corruption group Transparency International.

Companies from Russia, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Italy are among those most likely to make corrupt payments.

Transparency International chairman Peter Eigen said companies from Russia and China were using bribes on an "exceptional and intolerable scale."

Those from Taiwan and South Korea were only marginally behind them.

Even though most industrialized nations have laws that label it a crime to make corrupt payments offshore, the laws were not being enforced, Eigen said.

Criminal course

"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 sectors where most corruption occurs include public works/construction, defense and oil & gas, according to Transparency International.

After Australian companies, those least likely to pay bribes were companies from Sweden, Switzerland, Austria and Canada.

The bribe payers' survey was conducted in 15 emerging economies: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and Thailand.

Between December 2001 and March this year, more than 800 company executives, bankers, financial services professionals and others were interviewed on their perceptions about multinational firms from 21 countries.

Transparency International said the responses indicated that locally owned companies in the 15 countries surveyed had a far higher propensity to pay bribes than outside firms.

On a scale where 10 is a perfect score, Australia ranked No. 1 with 8.5. Singapore was next best in the region with 6.3, followed by Japan 5.3, Malaysia and Hong Kong both at 4.3, South Korea at 3.9, Taiwan 3.8 and China 3.5.

The United States ranked level with Japan at 5.3, while the U.K. scored 6.9.