China needs to raise graft defences

Mainland companies are likely to be exposed to a higher risk of corruption than those in other emerging markets due to a lower level of corporate transparency, a study by global anti-corruption organisation Transparency International said.

A recent ranking compiled by the Berlin-based non-government group showed that mainland companies were, overall, the worst performer in all BRICS countries when it came to disclosing information about their organisational structure, financial statistics and any anti-corruption programmes they ran.

The organisation surveyed 100 large, listed, state-owned and private enterprises in 16 emerging economies earlier this year, measuring and ranking their transparency level based on the data and information publicly available on their websites.

The 33 mainland companies included in the study received an average score of two out of a maximum of 10. The more transparent the company was, the higher the score.

For the other BRICS states, the average score in India was 5.4, 5.1 in South Africa, 4.3 in Russia and 3.4 in Brazil. The average score of all surveyed companies was 3.6.

Liao Ran, senior programme co-ordinator with Transparency International, said the information a company disclosed about its anti-corruption systems was an important indicator of its awareness and commitment to combating corruption

"However, none of the Chinese companies in our study publicly says that it forbids things like 'facilitation payments'," said Liao, referring to small bribes given to government officials or others with the aim of getting certain government approvals or to aid a deal.