PRESS RELEASE Media Contacts Berlin Head of Public Relations Jeff Lovitt Tel 49 30 3438 2045 Hong Kong Press Officer Sarah Tyler 49 162 781 4002 Paris Press Officer Jana Kotalik Head of Research Fredrik Galtung Tel 44 7979 648877 Email press transparency org Washington TI Vice Chairman Frank Vogl Tel 1 202 331 8183 Fax 1 202 331 8187 Email voglcom aol com the coalition against corruption http www transparency org Otto Suhr Allee 97 99 10585 Berlin Germany Tel 49 30 3438 2019 Fax 49 30 3470 3912 Embargoed for 11 00 Central European Summer Time 05 00 a m Eastern Standard U S time 17 00 Hong Kong 14 May 2002 Transparency International releases new Bribe Payers Index Russian Chinese Taiwanese and S Korean companies widely seen using bribes in developing countries High propensity to bribe overseas also seen for companies from Italy Hong Kong Malaysia United States Japan France and Spain Construction and arms industries top sectors of heaviest bribery 14 May 2002 Transparency International TI the global anti corruption organisation today released its Bribe Payers Index BPI 2002 showing very high levels of bribery in developing countries by corporations from Russia China Taiwan and South Korea as well as numerous leading industrial nations all of which now have laws making corrupt payments to foreign officials a crime 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 said TI Chairman Peter Eigen Speaking in Paris today on the eve of this year s Ministerial meeting of OECD member countries Eigen added 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 He said The meeting in the coming days of ministers at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD and then the G8 Summit provide the leaders of the industrial world with an opportunity to confront this critical situation 1 The TI Chairman stressed that today s BPI shows that companies from Russia and China which are increasingly exporting to other emerging market countries are using bribes on an exceptional and intolerable scale The extent to which companies from Taiwan and South Korea use bribes abroad is only marginally less The authorities of all of these countries need to do more to prevent bribery by their firms abroad 1 The OECD Ministerial takes place in Paris on May 15 16 and the G8 Summit will be held in Canada on June 26 27 2002 page 1 of 4 TI BPI press release 14 May 2002 TI s BPI is based on surveys conducted in 15 emerging market economies by Gallup International Association The BPI shows that US multinational corporations which have faced the risk of criminal prosecution since 1977 under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act have a high propensity to pay bribes to foreign government officials The US score of 5 3 out of a best possible clean 10 is matched by Japanese companies and is worse than the scores for corporations from France Spain Germany Singapore and the United Kingdom The highest scores indicating the lowest propensity to bribe abroad were for companies from Australia Sweden Switzerland Austria Canada the Netherlands and Belgium The TI Bribe Payers survey is the most comprehensive set of opinion polls on perceptions of the sources of corruption that has ever been undertaken and expands on the first TI BPI in 1999 Today s results provide detailed reports on the propensity of multinational corporations to bribe the business sectors most contaminated by bribery the extent to which executives of major corporations overseas are even aware of the landmark OECD Anti Bribery Convention that outlawed bribery of foreign public officials the degree to which these firms are enforcing compliance with the Convention and perceptions of unfair business practices apart from bribery used by firms to gain contracts The BPI was conducted in 15 emerging market economies Argentina Brazil Colombia Hungary India Indonesia Mexico Morocco Nigeria the Philippines Poland Russia South Africa South Korea and Thailand which are among the very largest such countries involved in trade and investment with multinational firms A total of 835 interviews were carried out between December 2001 and March 2002 principally with senior executives of domestic and foreign companies but also with executives at chartered accountancies binational chambers of commerce national and foreign commercial banks and commercial law firms The survey questions related to perceptions about multinational firms from 21 countries The results reflect the views of expert business leaders who are best positioned to have significant insights into issues of grand corruption and the bribery of government officials in developing countries said TI Head of Research Fredrik Galtung The Transparency International Bribe Payers Index 2002 835 business experts in 15 leading emerging market countries were asked In the business sectors with which you are most familiar please indicate how likely companies from the following countries are to pay or offer bribes to win or retain business in this country A perfect score indicating zero perceived propensity to pay bribes is 10 0 and thus the ranking below starts with companies from countries that are seen to have a low propensity for foreign bribe paying All the survey data indicated that domestically owned companies in the 15 countries surveyed have a very high propensity to pay bribes higher than that of foreign firms Rank 1 2 4 5 6 8 9 11 Score Australia Sweden Switzerland Austria Canada Netherlands Belgium United Kingdom Singapore Germany Spain 8 5 8 4 8 4 8 2 8 1 7 8 7 8 6 9 6 3 6 3 5 8 Rank 12 13 15 17 18 19 20 21 page 2 of 4 Score France United States Japan Malaysia Hong Kong Italy South Korea Taiwan People s Republic of China Russia Domestic companies 5 5 5 3 5 3 4 3 4 3 4 1 3 9 3 8 3 5 3 2 1 9 TI BPI press release 14 May 2002 The BPI results signal the rejection by multinational firms of the spirit of international anti
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