Rich countries export corruption to poor countries: governments tolerate bribery

A recent report revealed that rich countries are behind the export of corruption to poorer countries, and Transparency International officials confirmed that many governments turn a blind eye when their companies use bribery to obtain contracts in foreign markets.
“Our research shows that many countries are hardly investigating foreign bribery. It is unfortunate that companies in rich countries export corruption to poorer countries, undermining institutions and development,” said the lead author of a recent report by Transparency International, Gillian Dale.
“Many governments choose to turn a blind eye when their companies use bribery to obtain contracts in foreign markets,” said Delia Ferreira Rubio, president of Transparency International. “The G20 countries and other major economies have a responsibility to enforce the rules.”
Transparency International’s recommendations include disclosing corporate ownership secrecy that makes foreign bribery investigation difficult and exploring the growing liability of parent companies for the actions of their foreign affiliates.
The 1997 agreement of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development prohibits bribery to obtain contracts and licenses, or to evade local laws and taxes.

Transparency International ranked the United States and the United Kingdom as the most effective exporters to enforce rules intended to prevent companies from paying bribes in foreign markets, but said many other countries are doing nothing.
According to the Associated Press, the Berlin-based anti-corruption agency said that only four of the 47 countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Israel, which account for 16.5% of world exports – had the highest enforcement of anti-corruption legislation. foreign bribery in 2019.
This contrasts with the 2018 index, which counted on the commitment of seven countries, which constitute 27% of world exports, that adhere to the effectiveness of the legislation against foreign bribery.
The Transparency International report indicated that China, the world’s largest exporter that did not sign the agreement, is working to “implement little or no implementation of the terms of the agreement”, and countries such as India and countries that are members of the agreement such as Japan and Korea follow him.

Germany, the third largest exporter in the world and a signatory to the agreement, applies the terms of the agreement “moderately”, and with it are two other important sources such as France, Italy and Spain.
Germany and Italy followed fewer cases in 2019 compared to the previous year, while France and Spain improved their performance.
The Netherlands, Canada and Austria – all of these countries are signatories to the agreement – are the largest exporters in the category of countries showing only “limited application”. Most of the Arab countries are among the most corrupt countries, according to international reports.

Transparency International confirmed in a study last January that the war against bribery and corruption has not been successful in most countries in the world, and may even have suffered setbacks.

“The failure to achieve real progress against corruption is disappointing in most countries and has serious negative effects on citizens around the world,” said at the time the executive director of Transparency International, Patricia Moreira. Moreira pointed out that more than two thirds of the world does not reach even half of the index points.

The study authors emphasized that the fight against corruption decreased only in four of the seven major industrialized countries, while it did not improve in Germany and Japan, it only improved in Italy.