Following the launch today of Transparency International (TI)’s Global Corruption Report 2009: Corruption in the Private Sector (GCR), Chandu Krishnan, Executive Director of TI UK said:

23 September 2009 - “This report shows clearly that corruption is bad for resources-resources-business, inflating costs by an estimated ten per cent.”, raising the cost of capital, distorting investment decisions and damaging reputations – to say nothing of the knock-on impact for the wider victims of corruption who are usually the poor and disadvantaged. An up-to-date, effective UK law that outlaws bribery is essential to help protect honest companies and stop customers from footing the bill.”

Notes to the editor

1. Half of international resources-resources-business executives polled estimated that corruption raised project costs by at least ten percent (p59).
2. Consumers across the world were overcharged approximately US $300 billion through almost 300 private international cartels discovered from 1990 to 2005 (p26).