Saying No to Corruption
Fortune magazine features an interview with Anwar Ibrahim on the role of businesses in contributing to corruption in developing countries.
"Business has to be part of the development process, so we made intense efforts to promote the private sector. I strongly support market reforms, deregulation, privatization, all the mantras of today’s global economy.
But for this to work, we need business to be accountable, and we observed serious flaws in this regard. In my experience, business can tend toward cronyism, corruption and other poor practices in the absence of a free press, a vibrant civil society and effective law enforcement."
The full interview is available online here.
A strong stance against corruption is one of the UN Global Compact’s Ten Principles. In many developing countries, where rule of law and institutional oversight is relatively weak, bribery may be seen as necessary to get the wheels of bureaucracy turning in favour of one’s business and investment needs. I doubt that many see such payments as corruption, but as business costs involved in succeeding in the local business environment. There may be a possible defence if the host nation has different laws and standards than the company’s home nation — but an offence like corruption likely appears in every country’s statute books. No excuse for dodging accountability this time.
I just saw Anwar on the BBC channel yesterday, speaking on the World Communication for Develoment panel. Seems like he’s getting pretty busy eh.
