Transparency International Releases 2008 Bribe Payers Index

In connection with International Anti-Corruption Day (see previous post), Transparency International (TI) today issued its 2008 Bribe Payers Index (BPI) and Survey.

The BPI report, which focuses on the supply-side of bribery, ranked the 22 countries with the largest economies by the tendency of their firms to bribe abroad. The report found that companies based in Russia, China, Mexico and India represented the highest bribery risk.

For the first time, the BPI reviewed the risk of bribery by business sector. Out of 19 sectors reviewed, the report found that the public works construction, real estate and oil and gas sectors are most prone to corruption.

TI said that the "report notes that the findings of the 2008 BPI and sector rankings highlight that both governments and businesses must do more to effectively curb supply side corruption. There is no place for complacency – even the best performers among the 22 countries are to a degree likely to pay bribes, as illustrated by 16 percent of respondents considering Belgian companies to ‘often’ or ‘almost always’ use familiar or personal relationships to win public contracts."

TI also indicated that "companies headquartered in the world’s most economically influential countries have a duty to make sure their anti-bribery standards are comprehensive and enforced rigorously at every step."