Takes two to tango
In this week's issue of the WBJ, Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, a Freedom Union (UW) deputy from Wroclaw, rightly points out that foreign companies, along with Polish officials and enterprises, are to blame for the pervasiveness of corruption in this country.
In an interview on page 14, Frasyniuk accuses foreign companies of feeding corruption by bribing officials and local companies to speed up approval processes and improve their standing in tenders. To them, Frasyniuk said, bribery is just "a cost of entering the market."
The real price of corruption, however, is much higher. It comes in the form of rotten public institutions, a lack of transparency and an overall willingness to deny taxpayers access to the best goods and services for their money. A country that accepts those standards is doomed to slow economic development and an eroding of the values of truth and equality that are the pillars of any strong, modern-day society.
What further strengthens Frasyniuk's argument is the fact that some of the most advanced Western countries have in the past even supported the act of bribery by allowing their native corporations to deduct such payments from their taxes. Much of the industrialized world, though, has decided to take a stand on the corruption issue by ratifying a treaty drafted more than a year ago by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The treaty, which has already been ratified by 18 countries in the last year or so, makes it illegal for companies based in OECD member nations to bribe foreign public officials to win or retain business. Firms caught in the act would be barred from other government contracts in OECD countries. The idea is for industrialized nations to monitor their own corporations, therefore decreasing the burden on emerging markets, which oftentimes lack the necessary enforcement and legal framework to take on the battle themselves.
Parliament is scheduled to vote on the ratification and implementation of the treaty either by the end of this year or early 2000. It should ratify the treaty as soon as possible, making this country's position on the ill of corruption known.
A country in transition such as Poland walks a thin line between moving toward a more democratic society or a more criminalized one. Russia is a perfect example of how the power vacuum caused during a transition can yield a negative result. It is crucial, however, that more established economies support an emerging market's move toward democracy, and the OECD's convention supports that aim. Now it is time for the international companies themselves to do their host nations a favor and refuse to participate in the bribery game.
"We look forward to the day when only companies from countries that have made foreign bribery illegal are considered eligible to bid for major government contracts around the world," said Peter Eigen, chairman of Transparency International, the global anti-corruption watchdog that played a key role in bringing about the OECD's treaty. So do we.
