Stringent anti-bribery laws around the globe are translating into more companies facing an increasing number of prosecutions, according to a new report from Transparency International (TI).

Every year TI monitors global compliance with the OECD's benchmark anti-bribery Convention. Its latest report, “Exporting Corruption? Country Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Progress Report 2012,” shows that bribery charges increasingly lead to fines, jail time, and reputational damage.

TI reviewed anti-corruption activity in 37 (out of a total of 39) parties to the Convention and discovered that, with 144 new cases in 2011, the total number of cases prosecuted increased from 564 in 2010 to 708 in all of 2011. In addition, 286 investigations remain ongoing.

“The growing momentum behind anti-bribery enforcement is making it harder to get away with the use of graft to win business,” said TI Chair Huguette Labelle.

More governments must deter corporate crime and encourage clean business the report warns. Eighteen countries have not yet brought any criminal charges for major cross-border corruption by companies, while only seven out of 37 countries are actively enforcing bribery law, according to the report.

Governments should resist lobbying efforts aimed at weakening anti-bribery laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, TI said.

Over 250 individuals and almost 100 companies were sanctioned as a result of foreign bribery-related cases in OECD Convention countries to the end of 2011, according to the OECD. Sixty-six people have gone to jail in those countries for bribing foreign officials.

Country-by-Country

The United States shows the highest enforcement with 275 cases filed in 2011, an increase of 48 since last year; Germany, with a total of 176 cases—41 more cases since last year—is the only other country to have filed more than 100 cases.

Switzerland has 52 cases, an increase of 17 since last year; Italy has 32 cases, an increase of 14 since last year; and the UK has 23 cases, an increase of six since last year. With 34 ongoing investigations, Canada joins Australia and Austria as the most improved enforcers, all three conducting their first major case in 2011.

Six new cases arose in the UK. Increased enforcement activity also was seen in the United States, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Turkey, as well.

Japan is the biggest economy to have brought fewer than 10 major cases. Concerns also abound in France about the slow progress of cases initiated and lack of deterrent sanctions, according to the TI report.

The overall level of enforcement remains inadequate, said TI. Only seven countries (with 28 percent of world exports) have active enforcement, a number that has not changed in three years. To enable the Convention to reach a favorable tipping point, there must be active enforcement in countries with over half of world exports. That will require active enforcement in six to 10 additional countries, according to TI.

“The state of enforcement in most of the countries with moderate enforcement is not at a level that provides a credible deterrent to foreign bribery,” the TI report said. “In countries with little enforcement there is only little deterrent and there is no deterrent in countries with no enforcement.”