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Due to the hidden nature of corruption and the
paucity of criminal convictions, scientific evidence is difficult to come by.
Much of the information on these pages comes from surveys of people’s opinion,
experience and perceptions of corruption.
Corruption by country ^1^
According to Transparency International’s
Corruption Perceptions Index of 2006
Which areas of activity are the most corrupt?^2^
Out of 69 countries surveyed 45 ranked political
parties as the institution most affected by corruption.
Sectors
and institutions most affected by corruption
(1= not at all corrupt 5 = extremely corrupt)
(1= not at all corrupt 5 = extremely corrupt)
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Leaders^3^
The ten most corrupt heads of state, based on
the estimated sums they are alleged to have stolen, are:
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Daily life^4^
The amount that ordinary people have to spend on
bribes in everyday life varies from country to country. So does per capita
income and purchasing power. The table below shows the impact on ordinary
citizens by indicating the actual amount paid in bribes (the green column) and
what that amount means (the red column) in terms of affordability and
purchasing power (known as Purchasing Power Parity).*
Bribes
paid by household members over 12 months
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*Purchasing
power parity (PPP) is a method
of measuring the relative purchasing power of different countries’ currencies
over the same types of goods and services. It allows us to make more accurate
comparisons across countries.
Who bribes most to get and keep business?^5^
Overseas bribery by companies from the world’s
export giants is still common despite the existence of international bribery
laws criminalizing this practice. The lowest bribers in 2002 had actually
increased their propensity to bribe by 2006. The higher the score out of ten,
the lower the propensity to bribe.
Propensity
to bribe
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Sleaze by sector^6^
The top ten business sectors most likely to
demand or accept bribes are:
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Corporate criminals^7^
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Energy multinational Enron, which collapsed amid
scandal in 2001, became a byword for corruption. Many others get away with it.
Here are a few that got caught.
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o
In recent times the US
o
General Electric (GE) was involved in so many cases of fraud that
in the 1990s the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Management Agency created a
special investigations office specifically for the company, which indicted GE
on 22 criminal counts and recovered $221.7 million.8
Creamers^9^
And there are those who just make huge amounts
of money from the corrupt deeds of others.
o
Between $20-$40 billion acquired from corruption in developing
countries enters Western bank accounts each year.
o
Multinational companies launder around $207 billion of profits
tax-free out of developing countries a year. By contrast, aid from rich
countries to poor countries is $80 billion a year.
o
At least $11 trillion is currently held in off-shore tax havens –
approximately 30 per cent of the wealth of the world’s richest individuals.
Half of 72 global tax havens are British territories, dependencies or
ex-colonies where Britain
1.
Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index of 2006.
2.
Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2005
3.
Transparency International 2004
4.
Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2005 and
World Bank Development Indicators Onlinehttp://publications.worldbank.org/WDI/.
5.
Transparency International Bribe Payers Index 2006
6.
Transparency International Bribe Payers Index 2002
8.
Corporate Swine Inc www.corporateswine.net/weaponsindustry.html Corpwatchhttp://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=7846
9.
World Development Movement, press release on DfID governance white
paper 13/07/06.
10.
Paul Burnham Finney, ‘Anti-bribery efforts failed to stop
executives from greasing palms’, The
New York Times, 17 May 2005.
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