Transparency International (TI), a leading and well respected non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes political and political corruption, reports that Chinese and Russian firms are most likely to bribe abroad according to their recently released Bribe Payers Index for 2011, which ranks 28 leading international and regional exporting countries by the likelihood of their firms to bribe abroad. 

“Companies from the Netherlands and Switzerland are seen as least likely to bribe”, states TI's report.  Companies from Japan, the U.S., the U.K., Belgium, Australia, Germany, Canada and Singapore were also less likely to pay bribes according to the Bribe Payers Index. 

Sectors where bribes were most likely to be paid include agriculture, information technology, banking, telecommunications and arms (defense and military).  To access the 2011 Bribe Payers Index, click here.

Over the last several years there has been a marked increase in the enforcement of foreign anti-corruption laws.  The U.K. recently enacted what some are characterizing as the world’s strictest anti-bribery law, the UK Bribery Act 2010. The U.S. has been particularly aggressive in enforcement of its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and now even provides for generous rewards to whistle blowers in FCPA cases.