28 countries move closer towards the “effective criminalisation” of bribery
Twenty-eight jurisdictions from the Asia-Pacific region have adopted recommendations on fighting domestic and international bribery.
Australia, China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand all signed up to the Thematic Review on Criminalisation of Bribery, which analyses how they live up to international standards on fighting bribery.
A full list of the 28 countries is given in the box below.
Among other things, the countries are advised to enact and enforce legal offences that criminalise the bribery of public officials, maintain statistics on investigations and cut inconsistent rulings on the subject.
“Corruption challenges remain serious in the Asia and Pacific region” said Kunio Senga, Director General of the Asian Development Bank’s Southeast Asia Regional Department. “The attitude of accepting bribery as the price of doing business in many of the countries in our region must change if we are to successfully fight corruption.”
OECD Deputy Secretary-General Mario Amano urged that the “effective criminalisation of bribery must become standard practice in the region,” adding that, “none of us can afford to let corruption undermine trust in the region’s markets and governments.”