Sir, Patti Waldmeir starts of very well with “Bribery is not just a cost of doing business”, April 5, but then it sort of fizzles out in some “we need to be as competitive as our competitor” language, and giving examples of the recent upping of some fines which on the contrary only reaffirms the whole issue as just an increased cost of doing business.
There are some things we should be very clear about and that is that bribery is a criminal and vulgar behavior and that, if allowed to continue, it will in this shrinking world haunt everyone, whether a developed nation or not. Many of your current problems with excessive illegal migration or even the wars you are, or will be fighting, might indeed be rooted in some acts of bribery performed by your own ancestors. If I was invited to your home and bribed your butler to serve your finest French while you had in mind only to offer me a decent Australian, what would you say? Exactly! It behooves everyone to get a global grip on this problem if we are ever going to have a chance to get a grip on other problems, such as the environmental. In this respect I guess that before we see the first couple of executives from big corporations sent to long jail term in their own countries, because they have bribed some bureaucrats in the poorest nations we won’t get that far.
Finally, on a more practical note, when Walmeir mentions that a UK company had to pay “
$26m for the privilege of paying $2.1m in bribes to Nigerian officials” can you tell me how much of that fine has gone to Nigeria, the hurt party? Nothing? Golly does that not sound a bit like doing some innovative business! If I was a Nigerian citizen, could I sue the UK Company in the US?
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