NewsMine — cabal-elite — corporate — corruption — Viewing Item

Western companies fuel corruption abroad Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.forbes.com/iraq/newswire/2004/03/25/rtr1312136.html http://www.forbes.com/iraq/newswire/2004/03/25/rtr1312136.html CORRECTED-Western companies fuel corruption abroad -watchdog Reuters, 03.25.04, 2:04 PM ET In LONDON story headlined "Western companies fuel corruption abroad -watchdog" please read in paragraph 2 ...the 2002 bribe-payers index... instead of ...the 2003 bribe-payers index... (Corrects year of index) A corrected repetition follows. By Sophie Hardach LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - Western companies fuel corruption in the developing world and flout their governments' anti-bribery laws, an international corruption watchdog said on Thursday. Companies from Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria and Canada top the 2002 bribe-payers index compiled by advocacy group Transparency International, based on a survey of some 800 business experts in 15 developing countries. All these countries have introduced anti-corruption laws to comply with an OECD convention banning bribery of foreign officials. "We are very much aware that a lot of the responsibility for corruption in the developing world has been with northern companies and northern institutions," Peter Eigen, chairman of Transparency International, told a news conference. His organisation also criticised the United Kingdom, eighth in the bribers' league, for only belatedly creating laws to comply with the convention. A Home Office spokesman said the UK government had shown its commitment to the fight against corruption by outlawing bribery abroad in its 2002 anti-terrorism act, but that there had so far been no prosecutions. MAGIC WAND On the receiving side, Bangladesh ranked as the most corrupt in a separate survey of 133 countries, narrowly beating Nigeria and Haiti. The survey charts levels of corruption in the public sector as perceived by business people, academics and risk analysts. When asked in another survey which institution they would pick to eliminate corruption in if they had a magic wand, people in two-thirds of 44 countries polled chose political parties. Transparency International committee member Jeremy Carver expressed concern over the political influence corporations could gain through campaign donations in the United States. He also pointed to what he called a lack of transparency in the awarding of contracts in post-war Iraq, highlighting the role of oil company Halliburton (nyse: HAL - news - people), run by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney until 2000. "(Halliburton 's case) puts into perspective some of the numbers in our list," Carver said. "In our list we have leaders getting away with one or two billion dollars over a space of several years, and then there's Halliburton being awarded contracts of eight billion dollars without tender -- it surely raises a lot of questions," he added. Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

Big mergers have long history of failure and troubles { January 15 2004 } Church groups launch corporate code conduct { May 21 2003 } Corruption abroad Doubt self policing wallstreet { May 8 2003 } Foreign governments Global economy power balance { January 31 2001 } Goldman settles insider trading { September 4 2003 } Multinational companies attempt coup in guinea Poll want regulation { July 1 2002 } Sec examines stock pricing by big bokers { November 8 2004 } Starbucks dropped from socially responsible list Supermarket chains destroy central american farmers { December 28 2004 } US accuses big tobacco of fraud racketeering { June 8 2005 } US protects multinationals { August 29 2002 } Western companies fuel corruption abroad Whitehouse weakens whistle blower protection { August 1 2002 } Files Listed: 16

Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security Archives

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purpose of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.