NCPA


Policy Issues

NCPA Publications

Both Sides

Editorial Opinions

Audio/Visual


NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT US
Russia and China Lead in Extracting Business Bribes
Daily Policy Digest

International Issues / international business

Friday, May 17, 2002
Companies in Russia and China are practicing bribery "on an exceptional and intolerable scale," according to the president of Transparency International, an independent anti-corruption organization.

Using a scale of 1 to 10 -- with 1 being the country most prone to offering bribes and 10 being the least prone -- 800 business experts were asked to identify the most frequent bribe-payers.

  • Russia and China were rated 3.2 and 3.5, respectively.
  • The U.S. got a score of 5.3 -- the same as Japan.
  • The "cleanest" countries, although not perfect, were Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria and Canada -- with scores ranging from 8.5 to 8.1.
  • Singapore and most companies in Europe were considered less corrupt than their American counterparts.
Bribing foreigners to gain business has been unlawful in the U.S. since 1977, under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Source: Barbara Crosette, "Russia and China Called Top Business Bribers," New York Times, May 17, 2002.

For text
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/17/
international/asia/17BRIB.html

For a copy of the index
http://www.transparency.org

For more on international business
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/int/
12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 900 South Building - Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
Copyright © 2002 National Center for Policy Analysis - All rights reserved.