Corruption in France describes the prevention and occurrence of corruption in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. France has ratified several important international anti-corruption conventions such as the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. In general, investors do not consider corruption a problem for doing business in France, and companies operating in France generally have a good reputation of corporate social responsibility. The French National Assembly have proved two bills for combating

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

. However, in recent years there are several corruption scandals involving high-ranking public officials. Public works and the defence industry are considered the most affected by corruption.

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

's 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index scored France at 71 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("highly clean"). When ranked by score, France ranked 22nd among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison, the best score was 88 (ranked 1), and the worst score was 11 (ranked 180).

Extent and perceptions

In 2011, Transparency International concluded in its annual report for 2011 that France does not do enough to stop corruption. A TNS Sofres poll in October 2011 indicated that 72% of the French public had the perception that politicians are corrupt. In France in 2009 all major foreign investors and exporters and more than 80 per cent of surveyed executives admitted to 'not being familiar at all' with one of the most important legal frameworks in global business. A cartel constitutes a crime punishable by imprisonment and/or fines. Staff and budgets for public enforcement of securities regulation was a one third in France compared to UK in 2008.Global Corruption Report 2009
Corruption and the Private Sector,

August 2009

Areas

Elections

Political corruption studies include the presidential campaign 2007 finance investigation in the value of €150,000 from

Liliane Bettencourt Liliane Henriette Charlotte Bettencourt (; née Schueller; 21 October 1922 – 21 September 2017) was a French heiress, socialite and businesswoman. She was one of the principal shareholders of L'Oréal. At the time of her death, she was the ...

to Nicolas Sarkozy. The maximum individual support is €4,600. Jacques Chirac was accused of using public funds for his election campaign in Paris in the 1990s.Korruptio mädättää Ranskaa HS 7.11.2011 B4 On 15 December 2011, Chirac was found guilty and given a suspended sentence of two years. He was convicted of diverting public funds, abuse of trust and illegal conflict of interest. The suspended sentence meant he did not have to go to prison and took account of his age, health, and status as a former head of state."Jacques Chirac found guilty of corruption"
''Guardian'', 15 December 2011. He did not attend his trial since medical doctors deemed that his neurological problems damaged his memory.

Bribery

Bribery investigations from Africa to France are ongoing, including bribery claims of Jacques Chirac,

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Ministry ...

and

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

bribery claim from Gabon ex-president

Omar Bongo El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Omar Bongo was promoted to key positions as ...

. In September 2011 was judged Bernard Granie of 300 000 bribery from Provence Recyclage.

Energy sector

Alstom has been under investigation in

and Switzerland for allegedly making improper payments of US$200 million for contracts for Brazil's Itá hydroelectric plant, for São Paulo's subway expansion and for other major works in Venezuela, Singapore and Indonesia. The Mexican government has penalised Alstom and in 2007 the European Commission's antitrust authority fined Alstom €65 million for price fixing with competitors.

References

{{Europe topic , Corruption in

External links

France Corruption Profile
from the Business Anti-Corruption Portal

Politics of France