Bribery hotline receives hundreds of hits
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Michael Peel from London
INTERNATIONAL companies and private individuals are making hundreds of reports a week to a pioneering internet hotline launched this month to map bribery world-wide and help businesses plan how to deal with it.
Trace, a non-profit group set up to help companies tackle corruption, says its Bribeline has already received more than 1,000 reports from 89 countries, from people claiming officials have asked them for pay-offs ranging from less than $20 to more than $500,000 (euro366,000, £246,000).
The scale and diversity of the responses highlight both the global extent of corruption and the increased sensitivity to it in an era in which the US and other countries are stepping up action against alleged bribery in multinational companies.
Michelle Gavin, a Trace board member, said the hotline was intended primarily as a tool to help business highlight bribe hotspots to which they should pay particular attention, whether in specific countries, branches of government or international organisations.
"In aggregate it should provide new information on what the nature of bribery is in a specific place," she said. "Is it mostly gifts, is it mostly entertainment? Do federal legislators really always ask for meals?"
The hotline asks those who log on anonymously nine questions about the details of the bribe request. These include the reasons for it, the type of post held by the requester, and the nature of the demand, ranging from university scholarships to sexual favours.
Trace, whose members include some of the world's largest multinationals, said the hotline reports so far dealt with the "full range" of bribe values, including some in the highest category of more than half a million dollars.
Trace acknowledges the information it is gathering is unverified, but it hopes the risk of malicious reporting will be low because the hotline does not ask for the name of the person who allegedly requested the bribe.
Ms Gavin said the hotline data should enable companies to take practical action, such as targeting their anti-bribery efforts at top executives.
Under syndication
arrangement with FE
INTERNATIONAL companies and private individuals are making hundreds of reports a week to a pioneering internet hotline launched this month to map bribery world-wide and help businesses plan how to deal with it.
Trace, a non-profit group set up to help companies tackle corruption, says its Bribeline has already received more than 1,000 reports from 89 countries, from people claiming officials have asked them for pay-offs ranging from less than $20 to more than $500,000 (euro366,000, £246,000).
The scale and diversity of the responses highlight both the global extent of corruption and the increased sensitivity to it in an era in which the US and other countries are stepping up action against alleged bribery in multinational companies.
Michelle Gavin, a Trace board member, said the hotline was intended primarily as a tool to help business highlight bribe hotspots to which they should pay particular attention, whether in specific countries, branches of government or international organisations.
"In aggregate it should provide new information on what the nature of bribery is in a specific place," she said. "Is it mostly gifts, is it mostly entertainment? Do federal legislators really always ask for meals?"
The hotline asks those who log on anonymously nine questions about the details of the bribe request. These include the reasons for it, the type of post held by the requester, and the nature of the demand, ranging from university scholarships to sexual favours.
Trace, whose members include some of the world's largest multinationals, said the hotline reports so far dealt with the "full range" of bribe values, including some in the highest category of more than half a million dollars.
Trace acknowledges the information it is gathering is unverified, but it hopes the risk of malicious reporting will be low because the hotline does not ask for the name of the person who allegedly requested the bribe.
Ms Gavin said the hotline data should enable companies to take practical action, such as targeting their anti-bribery efforts at top executives.
Under syndication
arrangement with FE