By Daniel Tovrov: Subscribe to Daniel's RSS feed
November 3, 2011 7:57 AM EDT
Russian companies are the most likely to engage in bribery when conducting international deals, followed closely by China, according to the 2011 Bribe Payers Index from Transparency International.
Holland and Switzerland tied for the countries where businesses are the least likely to pay bribes. The United States came in tenth place and Transparency International recorded that 651 international businesspeople witnessed an American company trying to bribe a foreign company.
The index looks at the 28 largest export countries, evaluating them by surveying 3,000 international companies and business executives by which countries are mostly likely to offer bribes when doing business abroad.
Russia on Top
Russia's history of bribery is not well documented but is well known. Transparency International's Russia director Yelena Panfilova told The Moscow Times that "'Bribe' is one of the first words uttered in a business deal when Russians are involved."
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"I am ashamed every time these indexes come out," Panfilova added. "I don't want to sit with a red face yet again. Let the Chinese or the Mexicans take the honor."
Russia's bribery problem was witnessed first-hand in July after a cruise ship called The Bulgaria sank in the Volga River, killing more than 70 people. The ship was built in 1955 and was dangerously overcrowded and under-maintained.
The Bulgaria had not been inspected or retrofitted for years, according to an AP report, and the last major renovation might have happened as far back as 1980. After the boat sank, Yakov Ivashov, Russia's river fleet regulator, was arrested for not properly inspecting the ship.
Presumably, Argorechtur, the cruise company that owned the boat, paid Ivashov to allow the boat to sail, despite its well-documented engine troubles. Argorechtur General Director Svetlana Inyakina was also arrested.
Panfilova claims that corruption is worse when businesses and government officials interact.
"Business does not want to get involved [in corruption], but they [officials] come and show a price list," Panfilova told the Russian paper.
In October, Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky filed a suit against fellow "oligarch" Roman Abramovich for bullying him into selling shares of the Sibneft oil company at a fraction of their value.
Abramovich allegedly told Berezovsky that Vladimir Putin, then President of Russia, would seize his assets if he did not comply. While the case doesn't directly involve bribing, a barrister for Abramovich testified about a lawlessness of Russian business since the fall of the Societ Union.
"There was no rule of law," barrister Jonathan Sumption said, according to The Telegraph.
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