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1 John Bray, The Private Sector, Peacebuilding and the International Anti-Corruption Agenda 1 (2012)

handle is hein.unl/psectopina0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 1 John Bray is the lead anti-corruption specialist with Control Risks, the international business risk consultancy. He is based in Japan but mainly works on international assignments. 2 World Bank, World Development Report 2011: Conflict Security and Development, 2011, p. 10. The Private Sector, Peacebuilding and the International Anti-Corruption Agenda John Bray1 Control Risks Two years ago a leading international company approached Control Risks to seek advice on a proposed investment in an African country that-all being well-is in the process of recovering from a debilitating series of internal conflicts. There was little question about the commercial opportunities, and our role was to advise on political, security and integrity risks. The central question concerned corruption. Our client's senior executives were confident that they could obtain a license without paying a bribe. However, they were uncertain whether they could actually run their business without being ground down by multiple day-to-day and week-by-week demands for smaller operational bribes. If they succumbed to these demands, they feared that they would be vulnerable to prosecution under their home country's extra-territorial anti-corruption laws. Ultimately, we were unable to resolve their concerns. Our client's business development managers were keen to pursue the investment, but their lawyers were much more wary. As far as I know, they are still stuck in an internal impasse: the investment has not gone ahead. This episode highlights the relationship-and the potential for tension-between two key policy objectives: Equitable economic development is an essential requirement for peacebuilding in post-conflict recovery. This will not happen without the active participation of the private sector in its many manifestations, ranging from small family businesses to large international companies. * Good governance is likewise essential both to prevent abuses by predatory private sector actors, and to create the conditions where honest companies can compete fairly. The prevention of corruption is a vital part of the governance agenda. The tensions concern timing and practical decision-making. As a recent World Bank report has pointed out, it can easily take a generation to create the legitimate institutions that can prevent repeated violence and-one might add-create an equitable business environment with low levels of corruption.2 Businesspeople cannot afford to wait-the choice is therefore between operating in an imperfect business environment and not operating at all. S:ii! J