Russians top bribe-paying league

Russian, Chinese, Taiwanese and South Korean companies are most likely to make corrupt payments in developing countries according to Transparency International’s 2002 Bribe Payers’ Index (BPI). However, Western nations do not escape criticism. Italy ranks fifth out of 21 while Japan and the United States are joint seventh, despite the fact that US corporations have faced criminal prosecution for bribing foreign government officials since 1977 under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act . Commenting on the findings, TI Chairman Peter Eigen said, “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 countries headquartered in their countries, while increasingly focusing on the high level of corruption in developing countries.” The study also notes that domestic firms are the worst offenders when it comes to paying bribes in developing nations.