Which companies do you think are most likely to bribe?

Here’s a quick question for you:

Companies from which of the following countries are most likely to bribe when doing business abroad?

Is it China, Netherlands, Russia or Switzerland?

My feeling is that a lot of you will probably be able to guess the correct answer but in case you’re struggling to identify which ones are most likely to make illegal payments then according to a survey of 3,000 business executives undertaken by Transparency International, companies from Russia and China are the most likely to pay bribes when doing business abroad.

Transparency International Chair, Huguette Labelle said “It is clear that bribery remains a routine business practice for too many companies and runs throughout their business dealings, not just those with public officials. And companies that fail to prevent bribery in their supply chains run the risk of being prosecuted for the actions of employees and business partners.”

At the other end of the honesty scale are companies from the Netherlands and Switzerland. Companies from these two countries were found to be the most ethical when it came to bribes, or rather not making bribes.

It’s not just the countries that the companies are from that can have an impact on the likelihood of bribing but also the industry sector that they are working in.

Bribery was most likely to happen when public sector works and construction contracts were involved.

Agriculture was reported as being the least likely industry to find bribes.

So in summary, the purchases of unmarked brown envelopes which would fit a wad of cash in are likely to be significantly higher by a Russian construction company than a Dutch agricultural company.