Print

Mail

wiki links

Bribery back in spotlight in French probe of Total

Corruption * A trillion US dollars changes hands every year in suspect deals, according to World Bank estimates. * OECD drafted an agreement in 1997 banning companies from signatory countries from paying bribes to foreign officials. * The UN's anti-corruption convention has been signed by 140 countries.

The case of the boss of France's oil giant Total being hauled in for questioning by the financial police this week has once again raised the issue of bribes made to secure international deals.

Total chief executive Christophe de Margerie was detained by French police last Wednesday. He was released on Thursday but not before being placed under formal investigation on suspicion he had paid bribes to win a contract in Iran.

Total is suspected of paying top Iranian officials nearly 100 million Swiss francs (US$80 million) through two Swiss bank accounts to win a contract in 1997.

Total says that it had signed the Iran deal "in compliance with applicable law."

"The group is confident in its belief that the investigation will establish the absence of any illegal activities," it said following Margerie's release.

The World Bank estimates that a trillion dollars changes hands every year in suspect deals. The UN says the cost of corruption in some countries may amount to as much as 30 percent of GDP.

Transparency International, a group that monitors corruption around the world, believe that globalization has increased, not decreased, its prevalence.

"In the 1990s, there was growth in corruption with the globalization of financial circuits that facilitated the establishment of accounts in tax havens," said Jacques Terray, vice president of Transparency International's branch in France.

Typically, it is large infrastructure deals that are susceptible to bribery. There are large sums involved and a lot of interest in securing the deals and often poorly paid but well placed officials who get to sign off on a contract.

Oil contracts, arms deals or large public works projects are all obvious candidates for underhand shenanigans.

But water contracts are also increasingly suspicious according to Severine Teissier, president of French anti-corruption group Anticor. She says that the exploitation of scarce water resources in some countries is a "web of corruption" and that water itself is becoming something of a "blue gold" not unlike oil.

To combat the scourge international groups have attempted to limit graft in recent years.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) drafted an agreement in 1997 banning companies in those countries that signed up to the deal from paying bribes to foreign government officials.

Thirty-six countries have signed it -- the OECD's 30 members plus Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Estonia and Slovenia.

The UN put together an anti-corruption convention in 2003 that has been signed by 140 states, though not all have ratified it.
This story has been viewed 1388 times.