Chinese, Russians “most likely to pay bribes”

A bribery index released Wednesday has found that Chinese and Russian companies are the most likely culprits while doing business abroad.

Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International's Bribe Payers Index ranks the likelihood of companies, from 28 leading economies, to win business abroad by paying bribes.

This year China and Russia ranked bottom, in 27th and 28th place respectively, with the most corrupt sectors found to be public works contracts and construction.

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The index, a poll of 3,000 business executives, found that the least corrupt companies were from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and Japan.

Britain and the United States ranked eighth and ninth, just ahead of France. Major developing economies scored better, with India in 19th place and Brazil 14th. Click here for the full results of the Bribe Payers Index.

Reuters reported that not one of the 28 countries surveyed, which include all members of the G20 group of richest nations, was perceived as "wholly clean of bribery".

In its report, Transparency International said it was alarming that China and Russia were languishing at the bottom of the index, with the group's Russian director saying there were “no islands of integrity in Russian public and business life”.

"Given the increasing global presence of businesses from the countries, bribery and corruption are likely to have a substantial impact on societies in which they operate and on the ability of companies to compete fairly in these markets."

The BBC said that the report called for more international action against companies paying bribes in foreign countries.

Transparency international's Canadian chair Huguette Labelle said G20 governments “must tackle foreign bribery as a matter of urgency".

The G20 will next convene for a summit in the southern French city of Cannes, on November 3 and 4.