Clifford Chance

Indexing corruption in Asia Pacific

5 November 2014

Transparency International (TI) publishes a Bribe Payer's Index (BPI) which provides help to companies seeking to accurately assess the risk of doing business in Asia Pacific or with a partner from the Asia Pacific Region.  The BPI provides critical additional information to inform a company's due diligence efforts in the context of joint ventures, as well as mergers and acquisitions.  Accurately assessing the bribery risk that a potential business partner or target company poses and taking appropriate measures to prevent corrupt payments in the future is absolutely critical in protecting against liability for third-party conduct under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and for conduct by associated persons under the UK Bribery Act.  Assuming that the risk is low because the country itself has a low risk of corruption ignores the potential behavior of companies operating outside their own country.

Download PDF