MEXICO, CHILE, COLOMBIA, BRAZIL Said to Turn Blind Eye to Corporate Bribery. That's Socialism 101... Marxist.

Latin American Herald Tribune

Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Brazil Said to Turn Blind Eye to Corporate Bribery

written by Staff

Thursday October 23, 2014

BERLIN – Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Brazil have not done enough to fight against bribery in their companies’ dealings abroad, despite being among the nations that have committed to cracking down on the practice, the German non-profit Transparency International (TI) charged in a report released Thursday.

The report, titled “Exporting Corruption,” is the tenth edition of the annual TI study monitoring implementation of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, in the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The report noted that 22 of the signatory countries, whose exports represent 27 percent of the world total, have done “nothing” to prevent their companies from resorting to bribery in overseas transactions.

In addition to the four cited above, the group of negligent nations also includes Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Russia, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, Denmark, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Israel, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Estonia.

Meanwhile, Argentina, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, South Africa, Portugal and New Zealand make up the eight economies that according to TI’s ranking, have implemented “limited” forms of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention’s content.

And just four other countries – the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland – have “actively investigated and prosecuted companies that cheat taxpayers when they bribe foreign officials to obtain and inflate contracts, or secure licenses and concessions.”

The report said the four countries whose diligence in implementing the convention was recognized have reviewed a total of “225 cases and started 57 new cases from 2010-2013,” compared to 73 cases in the other countries (20 of which have not given rise to any legal procedures).

Behind them in the rankings lies a group that has applied “moderate” aspects of the convention. It consists of Italy, Canada, Australia, Austria and Finland, according to the NGO.

China, the largest global exporter, has shown no interest in signing the convention.

“For the Anti-Bribery Convention to achieve a fundamental change in the way companies operate, we need a majority of leading exporters to be actively enforcing it, so that the other countries will be pressured to follow suit,” the newly-elected TI president, Jose Ugaz of Peru, said in a statement.

TI claims that 15 years after the convention entered into force, most countries have not advanced significantly in the fight against bribery.

In his view, the researchers did not have the proper “political backing” to pursue major companies, because “national economic interest” prevailed over all other considerations in the struggle against corruption and lack of resources.

In this context, TI again stressed the need to publish the identities of the owners of all large companies, which could help prevent bribes being channeled through smaller companies.