Bribery pays—if you don’t get caught
A new report tries to quantify the returns to multinationals from kickbacks they pay
MANY BIG companies may be struggling with depressed sales, but these are busy times for bribery-busters. Mexico is abuzz over allegations by an ex-boss of Pemex, the state oil giant, that several senior politicians received bungs from companies including Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction firm (see article). The scandal is the latest in a string of graft cases to make headlines this year, starting with Airbus’s record $4bn settlement in January over accusations of corruption for making illegal payments in various countries.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “A closer look at greasy palms”
Business August 29th 2020
- Hollywood’s Chinese conundrums
- Delivery Hero is Germany’s newest blue chip
- Covid-19 has been a mixed blessing for makers of medical equipment
- Businesses compete to battle California’s blackouts
- Bribery pays—if you don’t get caught
- Palantir’s stockmarket prospectus reveals both losses and promise
- Telegram tries to blend security with usability
From the August 29th 2020 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Business
Germans are world champions of calling in sick
It’s easy and it pays well
Knowing what your colleagues earn
The pros and cons of greater pay transparency
A $500bn investment plan says a lot about Trump’s AI priorities
It’s build, baby, build
Donald Trump’s America will not become a tech oligarchy
Reasons not to panic about the tech-industrial complex
OpenAI’s latest model will change the economics of software
The more reasoning it does, the more computer power it uses
Donald Trump once tried to ban TikTok. Now can he save it?
To keep the app alive in America, he must persuade China to sell up