Watchdog: many countries fall short on rules against bribes

Bribery happens everywhere, but takes different forms. Political contributions, gifts, quid pro quos and brown envelopes.......

Only surprises here are they omission of some of the worst countries form the list published.

Japan, Korea, Russia Brazil, mexico, turkey are obvious candidates to be on the list but there are many who should be mentioned.

It found “little or no” enforcement in 22 countries accounting for 27 percent of world exports. They include G-20 members Japan, South Korea, Russia, Mexico, Brazil and Turkey.

As StormR says, no real surprises here -- especially Japan being in the "little or no enforcement" group along with the likes of Russia and Mexico. I remember one of my first "surprises" about Japan was when I was getting a tour of our company offices in Japan upon my arrival (I then workded for a multi-national communications firm servicing one of the major Japanese multi-nationals) and seeing several large, rough looking men in fancy suits on a particular floor. When I asked about them, I was told basically to stay away from them and that floor, as those were the yakuza guys for our client who did things like enforcing calm at annual meetings, etc. And it was just accepted that they were on our payroll, and we provided office space for them, as a service to our client. Amazing.

Bribery is how most world governments and economies work, but it comes back to bite later as it eats away at infrastructure until your country is a house of cards. Governments that want their countries to be strong for the long-term would do well actively enforce laws.

rules barring multinational companies from paying bribes ABROAD

"Abroad" is the key word here, and should be the focus of the comments. It's stealing from outside the voting group, rather than from inside it.

No surprise here.