Zero tolerance is not allowing any form of corruption to be a part of our lives. Is that possible?
Bribery and Corruption can be a somewhat elastic concept. Its giving the cable man in New Zealand $50 for a couple of free TV channels to a Danish mayor providing a affordable apartment to a family member. Corruption is rampant in most countries and companies and continuous to be a serious problem.
According to Transparency, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand are the cleanest countries. Sweden and Singapore rounded out the top five, Australia ranked No. 7 Japan 17th. The United States was at No. 19, followed by France (22), Spain (30), Taiwan (37) and South Korea (45) are some of the rankings from a list of 176 nations.
Cultural norms can make it difficult to determine which countries are reliable or corrupt in their public or private sectors, based on western norms. China is 80th place and is cleaner than Thailand (88) and India (94). The Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia didn't make the top 100.
The annual Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International is both powerful and disturbing reading because the rankings are widely accepted and often referenced by scholars, journalists, business executives and government officials. Continued transparency and corruption issues in local, state and national government institutions and processes continue to be on the top of the agenda.
- In Afghanistan, corruption meant the disappearance of $900 million from a bank that has been likened to a Ponzi scheme.
- In Zimbabwe, it could mean hospital nurses charging pregnant women $5 every time they scream in pain, as a variety of false-alarm fee.
If corruption becomes increasingly dangerous, it will surely doom the company and the state. Companies must be vigilant to comply with the Bribery Act and FCPA as in recent years, there have been cases of serious violations of disciplinary rules, policies, procedures and laws within many corporations and management has to be highly destructive in nature and utterly destructive politically, shocking people to the core.
Corruption and its manifestations are at the heart of many companies’ greatest challenges: its glaring lack of legitimacy. The outflow of money through corruption, crime, and tax evasion is as high as $3.72 trillion over the past decade in China alone.
At the Copenhagen Compliance Conference we have a separate session on CSR issues including expert advice on Bribery, Fraud and Corruption Issues
Source: Transparency International and Asiablog.
