Russian companies are the most likely to offer or pay bribes for contracts in emerging market countries, followed by firms from China and Taiwan, corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) said on Tuesday.
Hot on their heels are firms from South Korea, Italy, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, and the United States, the Berlin-based watchdog said in its Bribe Payers Index 2002 survey.
The Index, based on a survey carried out in the 15 emerging market countries that trade most with multinational corporations, showed that companies from Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria and Canada were considered the least likely to offer or pay bribes.
European countries mostly occupied the middle ground in the 26-state survey, which TI conducted between last December and March by polling leading businessmen, bankers, companies, auditors and chambers of commerce.
TI chairman Peter Eigen was due to present the findings at a midday news conference in Paris on Tuesday.
Russia did not figure in TI’s first Bribe Payers Index in 1999, which found Chinese firms the most corrupt, followed by South Korean and Taiwanese companies.
This year’s country with the cleanest companies, Australia, was second in 1999 to Sweden, this year’s runner-up. – Reuters