Transparency International(TI) the campaigner against corruption released its bribe payer Index for 2006, this morning. The report which covers the world's 30 largest exporting countries has placed Switzerland on top of the Index and India at the bottom.
TI has broadly classifieds 30 countries into 4 categories according to their likelihood of paying bribes. Least likely, somewhat likely, more likely and most likely. TI however cautions that companies adopt different standards for different areas of their business. A company which comes clean on the home turf could well be routinely paying bribes in other locations to get more business.
The table indicates that Switzerland followed by Sweden, Australia, Austria, Canada and Britain are the least likely to offer bribes. The United States is at 9th place along with Belgium. Germany came 7th in spite of its recent controversy surrounding the German-American motor company DaimlerChrysler's of having paid bribes in Africa, Asia and Europe.
TI stated that Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) should step up effort to enforce anti bribery convention. TI's chief executive, David Nussbaum has noted that ironically while the signatory countries to OECD conventions enforce them in their own country, they turn a blind eye on Organizations who follow unethical practices in other parts of the World. This puts the poor nations in a disadvantaged position to fight corruption. In addition, these bribes are usually paid by the local subsidiaries of the Companies and hence they have a corrupting effect on the firms who pay them.
