More than half the countries around the world that pledged to clamp down on bribery are doing nothing about it because big business tempers political willpower, according to research.
Only four of 41 countries that signed up to the OECD’s anti-bribery convention 15 years ago are active investigators and prosecutors of corruption, while 22 countries – representing 27 per cent of world exports – have done precious little to back up promises to stamp out graft, according to Transparency International’s annual ranking of countries’ anti-bribery enforcement.
Among those states are large economies such as Russia and Brazil, but also western countries such as the Netherlands that traditionally enjoy perceptions of a clean economy.