ECONOMY

OECD: Greece needs to stop bribery of foreign officials

Greece has made some headway in tackling rampant graft at home but urgently needs to crack down on bribes paid to foreign public officials aimed at winning contracts overseas, the OECD said in a report on Friday.

Fighting corruption is a priority for Greece’s new leftist prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, who promised European Union partners in overnight talks in Brussels that he would present a full set of economic reforms in order to unlock cash Athens needs to stave off bankruptcy.

“Greece has made efforts to tackle domestic corruption in the country but it needs to give much higher priority to fighting foreign bribery,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its report.

The Paris-based organization defines foreign bribery as offering or giving undue financial advantage, directly or through intermediaries, to a foreign public official to win or keep business or for improper advantage in any other business.

The government should target the export, shipping and small and medium-sized business sectors, the report added.

Last week Athens signed an accord with the OECD under which the multinational body will provide know-how on designing and implementing government reforms needed to help persuade the EU to renegotiate Greece’s 240-billion-euro bailout package.

[Reuters]

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