When it comes to bribery in China, cash is king

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Most requests for business-related bribes in China are cash demands, the first year of a bribe-monitoring project has revealed.
 
Information gathered through BRIBEline, an online database that allows individuals worldwide to report bribe requests in confidence, found three-quarters of the 148 instances registered in China involved cash or a cash equivalent. About 12 per cent were demands for hospitality, entertainment or gifts, and three per cent for sexual favours. BRIBEline does not ask whether the bribes – reported during the period 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008 – were actually paid.
 
Trace International, a US-based non-profit group that administers the service, said the reports provide the first in-depth look at ‘the demand-side of bribery that has influenced business transactions in China for centuries’. It said the information could assist companies in combating bribery.
 
Of the bribes reported in China, 52 per cent were requested by government officials or employees, 11 per cent by the police, and 11 per cent by a member of the judiciary. Nearly three-quarters of individuals reporting these practices said they had been approached more than once, and 21 said they had been asked more than 100 times in the course of their careers.
 
Trace International president Alexandra Wrage said cash demands were problematic but were often easier for businesses to refuse than non-monetary bribes. ‘Requests for hospitality, gifts and similar favours are among the most difficult areas’, she said. ‘Many companies have a blind spot when it comes to bribes like these as they have a respectable social veneer.’
 

The study showed that most bribe demands reported in China were for ‘avoiding a harm or disadvantage’, rather than gaining an advantage. More than half (54 per cent) were for services to which the business was entitled, including timely delivery or payments for services already given.

 

Only 20 per cent were sought for gaining new business, and nine per cent for favourable treatment by a judge or a government official. In most cases, sums sought were equivalent to between $101 and $5000 (£55–£2700), but 12 per cent were for over $100,000. BRIBEline was started last year (EP9, issue 6, p12) for business executives to anonymously report bribes offered by ‘official or quasi-official entities’.

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Corruption