United States - bribery champions. - With 128 cases of corruption noted, the United States was the country most often involved in bribery cases, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In a report on the costs of international corruption, it looked at 427 cases over the last 15 years throughout the world, involving individuals or businesses in 41 countries which have signed the OECD anti-corruption convention. On average, backhanders represented 10.9% of the total value of the transaction in question and 34.5% of the profits stemming from it, or $13.8 million per bribe. Given the complexity and secret nature of these transactions, however, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg, the OECD stresses. Major companies are most likely to resort to bribery, and their directors are generally aware of it. Bribes are far more often paid to win contracts from companies owned or controlled by the state in advanced economies than in the developing countries. The report reveals that: (1) almost two thirds of the cases arose in just four sectors: the mining industries (19% of cases), construction (15%), transport and warehousing (15%) and the information and communication sector (10%); (2) in 27% of cases, the bribes went to officials of public companies, ahead of customs agents (11%), employees of public health bodies (7%) and defence bodies (6%); (3) bribery is a phenomenon mainly associated with wealthy countries, with the United States at the top of the table with more than a quarter of all cases (128 cases), followed by Germany ( 26), South Korea (11), Italy, the United Kingdom and Switzerland (six cases each), France and Norway (five cases each), Canada (four cases) and Japan (three cases). (IL)