25356: ayiti1804 (news) Haiti ranked 2nd corrupted in the world (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Haiti 1804 <ayiti1804@hotmail.com>

I'd never heard of Transparency International 
<http://www.transparency.org/about_ti/index.html> before, but they certainly 
don't have anything good to say about Haiti (see 7th paragraph below).

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Greasing the wheels of business

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Call it baksheesh, dash, grease or la bustarella -- a 
bribe has many names around the globe. Yet for some it is an inherent part of 
doing business.

Favors may be needed when it comes to getting government contracts, issuing 
licenses and cutting through layers of bureaucracy.

It is more evident in countries where there is a lack of accountability and in 
collective cultures where payments or gifts are very important and where 
relationships are maintained through a system of favors.

"The perception of what constitutes corruption varies from culture to culture," 
Lilian Ekeanyanwu from Transparency International, a non-governmental agency 
that combats corruption, told CNN.

"What you call graft in the developing world is seen as a gift here in Nigeria, 
so it is difficult to have a commonality in the definition of corruption."

There is no single definition for corruption, although the United Nations 
defines it as "the abuse of power for private gain" ranging from nepotism 
through to bribery.

Nigeria ranks behind Bangladesh and Haiti as the third most corrupt country, 
according to Transparency International's index. Stories of corruption clutter 
Nigeria's newspapers.

"First of all you start with sectors like the police, the customs and 
immigration. These are the ones who confront people when they come into the 
country and who people have contact with on a day to day basis," says 
Ekeanyanwu.

However, oil rich-Nigeria, where opportunities abound for foreign investment, 
is keen to clamp down heavily on officials engaging in these practices.

"People who are paying those bribes are part and parcel of the problem," says 
Ngozi Okonjo-iweala, Nigerian Finance Minister.

"Business people should not engage in this because there is a supply and a 
demand side to corruption. If someone demands -- say "no" and report them to 
the finance minister."

Most multinational corporations have a company-wide policy on dealing with 
corruption.

"There are certain companies that have the policy stated and all their 
employees know about it -- that they do not pay bribes... and only do things 
that they can get receipts for and can put through their books," says Philippa 
Foster Back from the Institute of Business Ethics.

But what is on paper and what business is like on the ground can be quite 
different; according to ethics experts, there is room to negotiate.

Foster Back suggests that if it is a small amount of money to a low level 
official, typically this can be accepted. But if someone wants large amounts of 
money to help you, say, clear goods at the docks, then you are likely to be 
making illegal and unethical payments.

"It's very difficult to have a hard and fast rule. When the sum of money is 
going to cause somebody to change their behavior, that is when you have gone 
over the mark -- so it is the degree of influence that you are buying," says 
Foster Back.

Ultimately it is best to be honest in business, especially when it comes to 
explaining things to your headquarters. If the business dealings appear to be 
dubious, perhaps it is best to get out of that game completely.

CNN's Gaven Morris, Richard Quest and Shantelle Stein contributed to this 
report.


Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/06/09/bt.corruption.business/index.html

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