hankyoreh

The 2006 Bribe Payers Index (BPI), a report issued October 3 by Transparency International (TI) on worldwide business practices, placed South Korean companies in the bottom third for transparent business practices among the world’s 30 export powers.

The Berlin-based corruption watchdog based this year’s report on a survey of more than 11,230 business executives in 125 countries. The TI asked whether or not foreign firms performing business in their nations tend to provide bribes or create illegal funds.

Korean businesses scored 5.8 out of 10 points, placing them in the third group out of four groups. Those ranked as the least likely to pay bribes were listed in the first group. Included in the third group were Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, South Africa and Malaysia. Korean companies show an improvement from the past, as they finished 18th among 19 countries in the same index in 1999 and 18th among 21 countries in 2002. However, the nation still is one of the low-ranking nations.

Companies in Switzerland topped the list, and firms in Sweden, Australia, Austria, Canada, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and Japan rounded out the first group. Businesses in Singapore, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, France, Portugal, and Mexico belonged to the second group, while companies in Taiwan, Turkey, Russia, Chinas and India were named as the nations with the most active bribe-payers.

Most of the companies were shown to have a "double standard," keeping their noses clean when dealing with Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member nations but heaping on shady business practices in low-income nations. Korean companies were no exception, scoring high transparency marks while conducting business with OECD nations but coming in low in its transactions with poorer countries.

In a statement, the TI said that here was no winner in this index, as all of the surveyed 30 countries were found to have given bribes. "It is hypocritical that OECD-based companies continue to bribe across the globe, while their governments pay lip-service to enforcing the law," said David Nussbaum, chief executive of Transparency International.

Kim Sang-geun, chairman of TI Korea, commented, "Companies offering bribes are clearly committing crimes that hinder developing nations and their peoples, who are trying to make efforts to stop the vicious circle of poverty through reducing corruption."