M'sia among corrupt nations where bribes total US$40bil

Corruption remains a top scourge in Malaysia, where nearly half of the corporate respondents in a survey admitting to having paid bribes or knowing someone who had done so.

The South-East Asian nation is not alone in this dilemma, where precious funds are being bled and siphoned away from the system, helping to perpetuate a vicious cycle of poverty where the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer.

According to the Global Corruption Report 2009 published by Transparency International, corruption is most rampant in developing and transition countries.

And companies there have supplied bribes estimated at up to US$40 billion annually to corrupt politicians and government officials.

“The government has recognised the problem and promised to curb corruption, but results have so far not met the expectations,” Paul Low, president of Transparency International Malaysia, told a press conference unveiling GCR.

“Ultimately, it is citizens who has to bear the brunt. Consumers around the world were overcharged approximately US$300 billion through almost 300 private international cartels discovered from 1990 to 2005,” he said.

Corruption the No 2 obstacle in Malaysia

In Malaysia, business leaders rank corruption as the second most problematic factor for doing business in the country, with 47% of corporate respondents in the Transparency International Malaysia Transparency Perception Survey 2007 admitting to having bribed someone or knowing someone who had done so, mainly to avoid inconvenience.

Revolving doors between public office and the private sector, another practice documented in the report, provide a smooth path to deceitful public procurement deals where non-competitive bidding and opaque processes lead to immense waste and unreliable services or goods, Paul said.

Many of the countries found at the bottom of TI’s yearly Corruption Perceptions Index – which measures perceived levels of public-sector corruption in over 170 countries – are not only victim to unscrupulous governments but to major firms that are more than willing to enter into corrupt deals with these governments.

These intricate webs, involving more than simple bribes, are possible because companies believe that they can get away with such criminal practices.

"Society believes that nothing can be done. There is a sense of hopelessness and the people entrusted with the authority and power to change things are not committed or are unable to do so," said Paul.

"It also does not help that the anti-graft body have time and again failed to catch the 'big fish' who are said to be the real culprits behind graft cases."