Miller & Chevalier and six Latin American partner firms, surveyed executives who do business in Latin America, to weigh in on whether corruption is a substantial obstacle. Approximately half the executives returned with a resounding “Yes.” Bolivia and Venezuela were identified as the most corrupt.
The most corrupt institutions include the Mexican and Brazilian police, and the Argentine executive branch. “Corruption continues to be a widespread and costly problem for businesses in the region,” the firm told FinancialWeek.
The survey of 201 executives focused on companies in Brazil, Argentina, and Columbia. The companies are in energy, oil, mining, agriculture, telecommunications, financial services, and other industries.
Fifty-nine percent of executives surveyed said they lost contracts to competitors who made illicit payments. Only nine percent reported these activities to authorities.
“Survey responses reflect both a high level of concern in the private sector about corruption and a cynicism about meaningful enforcement of the anti-corruption laws,” said Homer Moyer, a partner with Miller & Chevalier to FW.
Anti-corruption laws are believed to do little to curb wrongdoing. About 77 percent of executives said their companies have tried to protect against corruption risk by instituting anti-corruption policies and procedures.
The survey results are going to be sent to the Department of Justice, which has taken a harder stance against corruption and increased enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
There has been much attention on the corruption situations in China, Nigeria, and other Asian and African countries; however, Latin America had not yet been highlighted.
Last month, Albert Stanley, who rand KBR when it was a Halliburton unit, pleaded guilty to using bribes, kickbacks, and corruption to secure oil deals in Nigeria, according to FW. Bribes reaching $182 million were paid by Halliburton and an international consortium of engineering companies from France, Italy,