New BRIBEline Report Provides First In-Depth Look at Demand-Side Bribery in India

New BRIBEline Report Provides First In-Depth Look at Demand-Side Bribery in
India

NEW DELHI, India, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- TRACE International, Inc.
today announced results from its first 16 months of collecting and analyzing
reports of bribery demands in India. These reports represent the first look
at the demand-side of bribery in India as reported directly by those being
solicited for bribes.

"The vast majority of the reports in India are of extortionate demands for the
purpose of avoiding some harm or disadvantage," said TRACE President Alexandra
Wrage. "It is interesting to note that 30% of these reports describe bribes
demanded by the police. BRIBEline can uncover key trends for international
companies to consider when crafting their risk mitigation tools so companies
can address the real issues that their employees face on the ground in India."

Ninety-six anonymous reports about bribery demands in India were filed between
July 1, 2007 and October 30, 2008 on TRACE's Business Registry for
International Bribery and Extortion (BRIBEline), a secure, multilingual,
online tool for reporting bribe demands worldwide.

Of the bribe demands reported, 91% were requested by a government official,
including 33% from national-level government officials, 30% from the police,
16% from state/provincial officials and employees, 10% from city officials,
and 2% from ruling party representatives. Of the total reported bribe demands
at the national level, 13% were from the national office of Customs and 9%
each were from the national offices of Taxation and Water.

Seventy-seven percent of the reports described extortionate demands - payments
for avoiding a harm or disadvantage rather than for gaining an advantage. Of
those, more than half (51%) were for the timely delivery of services to which
the individual was already entitled, such as clearing customs or having a
telephone line installed. Only 12% of the reported bribe demands were for
gaining an advantage, including exercising influence with or over another
government official, receiving inappropriate favorable treatment, or winning
new business. The remaining 11% of reporters characterized the bribe demand
as falling in some other, unspecified category of purpose.

Nearly half of the individuals who reported a demand for a bribe said they had
been asked for bribes more than once. Of those, 9% reported that they had
been solicited more than 100 times. Sixty percent of those who reported
multiple demands reported that they had been solicited five times or fewer.

Ninety-two percent of all reported bribe demands were for cash or a cash
equivalent. The next most common demand reported, at 5%, was a "gift,"
including requests for company products, jewelry and similar items. Much less
commonly reported, at approximately 1% each, were requests for hospitality or
entertainment; travel for other than business purposes; and other assistance,
such as help with a visa, medical care or scholarships.

The values of the reported bribe demands ranged from less than US$20 (29%) to
more than US$500,000 (approximately 1%). Most of the reported bribe demands
were for relatively small amounts of money.

"Although most reports of bribe demands in India are for low dollar amounts, a
significant number of individuals reported being asked for a bribe more than
100 times. Those repeated demands for relatively small amounts of cash can be
difficult for companies to track and they can add up over time to significant
totals. Our findings in the India BRIBEline Report reinforce the importance
of having strong internal controls to encourage commercial transparency at all
levels," said Wrage.

Wrage also noted, "One of the most useful aspects of BRIBEline reports is the
detail they provide about specific, local trends. This data should be useful
to multinational companies as they develop tailored compliance training
programs for each country in which they do business. In India, for example,
it would be prudent to prepare employees to respond to a high number of low
level cash demands, especially from the police and customs officials. In
China, by comparison, we saw that companies need to prepare their employees to
respond to demands for large value items, including hospitality and gifts in
excess of US$10,000."

A complete description of BRIBEline's methodology, as well as the full India
and China reports, are available online at
www.TRACEinternational.org/news/BRIBElineData.asp.

TRACE is a non-profit membership association that pools resources to provide
practical and cost-effective anti-bribery compliance solutions for
multinational companies and their commercial intermediaries (sales agents and
representatives, consultants, distributors, suppliers, etc.). TRACE provides
several core services and products, including: due diligence reports on
commercial intermediaries; model compliance policies; an online Resource
Center with foreign local law summaries, including guidelines on gifts and
hospitality; in-person and online anti-bribery training; and research on
corporate best practices. For more information, please visit
www.TRACEinternational.org.

SOURCE TRACE International, Inc.

Maureen Dempsey, +1-212-300-1806, mdempsey@apcoworldwide.com, for TRACE
International, Inc.