The 1997 OECD anti-bribery convention, which follows in the footsteps of the 1977 U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, now includes 37 signatories, some of them non-OECD countries, which together account for 90 percent of the world's foreign direct investment. The Wall Street Journal writes in an editorial [subscription required]:
It wasn't long ago that bribery, a criminal offense at home, was considered an acceptable cost of doing business abroad in most OECD members. Germany and other countries even let companies write foreign bribes off their taxes.
But Cobus de Swardt, the new head of Transparency International (TI), remains skeptical.
Though it is the poor and developing countries that come out as the most corrupt in the TI's annual Corruption Perceptions Index, Mr. De Swardt calls for a second wave of anti-corruption efforts. This time focused on the role of western governments and companies: "countries that have less corruption internally very often continue to play a major role to perpetuate corruption in poorer parts of the world."
Join the Conversation