Corruption in the Middle East: Jessica Carpenter

Corruption 'rife among Middle East companies‘: Two thirds of businesses‘ executives in the Middle East believe that corruption is widespread. Backhanders and bribes are often used to win contracts or deals. Lots of sources say that fraud and bribery are a major problem in the Middle East. Many respondents indicated that bribery and facilitation payments were just part of the culture of the Middle East to ensure business was conducted more smoothly.

United Nations involvement: Corruption can be prosecuted after the fact, but first and foremost, it requires prevention. An entire chapter of the Convention is dedicated to prevention, with measures directed at both the public and private sectors. Fines can now reach up to thousands or millions of dollars if companies or their employees are caught breaking the law. Both US and UK authorities have clamped down on corruption by companies that are registered in those countries or have subsidiary operations there. The Convention requires countries to establish criminal and other offences to cover a wide range of acts of corruption, if these are not already crimes under domestic law.

Future: Companies in the Middle East say that most corporations are corrupt because they think that’s how they’ll get big. U.S. and the U.K. are cracking down on corrupt companies, not only in the Middle East, but also all around the world. With the help of other countries, there will be less corruption in different governments and companies.