China firms ranked worst out of businesses in emerging market nations: global anti-graft watchdog survey
Transparency International slams ‘pathetic’ findings of report on 100 companies in 15 nations, which also include India, Brazil, Mexico and Russia and says big multinational companies must do more to fight corruption
Chinese firms are the most opaque among companies in emerging-market nations, says a global anti-graft watchdog’s survey released on Monday that assesses the efforts of nations in fighting corruption.
Three companies in the survey of 100 businesses that scored nought out of 10 were all Chinese, with mainland businesses also dominating the bottom 25 places.
Transparency International said the report’s findings were “pathetic” and highlighted the urgent need for big multinational companies to do more to fight corruption.
Thirty-seven Chinese companies were evaluated, making them the survey’s biggest group, but they had the weakest overall performance.
The survey’s bottom 25 spots were also dominated by Chinese companies.
Only one Chinese company, telecom gear-maker ZTE, was placed in the top 25.
“The very weak Chinese results stem from weak or non-existent anti-corruption policies and procedures, or a clear failure to disclose them in line with international practice,” Transparency International said in a press release accompanying its report.
Indian companies topped the survey of companies in 15 emerging market countries, which also included Brazil, Mexico and Russia.
The overall score slipped since the last Transparency In Corporate Reporting survey in 2013 – falling a fraction to 3.4 out of 10, with three quarters of companies scoring less than half.
The Berlin-based watchdog warned that the failure of a vast majority of companies surveyed to operate transparently risked creating an environment for corruption to thrive, both in their businesses and the countries where they operated.
The weak scores were a big concern for global corruption fighting efforts, said Susan Cote-Freeman, Transparency’s head of business integrity.
“All these companies, including the Chinese ones, are expanding in other geographies and they really have to raise the bar on their anti-corruption and disclosure practices if we’re going to have a level playing field and if we’re going to really tackle this problem of corruption.”
Companies were scored on three measures: anti-corruption programmes, the amount of information disclosed about subsidiaries, joint ventures and other holdings, and financial data released for operations in each country where it has business.
Indian firm dominated the top spots. Telecom company Bharti Airtel took first place with a score of 7.3 out of 10, followed by six units of conglomerate Tata and technology company Wipro.
One reason Indian companies came out on top is strict government requirements for financial disclosures, including operations in different countries. Another is that older companies, such as Tata, have been focusing on anti-corruption efforts for “quite a long time”, Cote-Freeman said.
