By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter

Korea needs to reinforce anti-corruption rules for the corporate sector, such as reproducing a version of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of the U.S., the Korean chapter of a leading global anti-corruption NGO said Thursday.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, is a U.S. federal law created as a reaction to a series of major corporate accounting scandals involving Enron, Tyco International and WorldCom, among others.

The NGO proposed that Korea adopt such regulations and demonstrate stricter adherence to the international anti-corruption conventions of the OECD and the U.N.

The proposals were made during a press conference in Seoul after Transparency International (TI) released its Global Corruption Report 2009: Corruption and the Private Sector (GCR2009).

The organization cited corporate sector corruption as one of the biggest hindrances to sustainable economic development.

Bribes, political lobbying and price-fixing and other disruptive practices have led to costly consequences worldwide, the report said.

"We urge the government's active assistance of corporations that display leadership in ethical management. In turn, corporations should stay away from bribes and practice clean management," a spokesperson for TI-Korea said.

Based in Berlin, Germany, the TI is a global civil organization devoted to the fight against corruption.

The GCR is published every year as policy reference for decision-makers in business, academia, government and civil society.

The GCR2009 contains a report on the status of corruption in 49 countries, including Korea.

Released concurrently in New York and Berlin, the report called for more action to reduce threats to global economic stability.

"It is not just a question of tackling corruption in business ― it is also important for financial and economic stability and the ongoing reforms of the global financial architecture," it said.

"In order to weather the global financial downturn, corporations must promote a culture of integrity," said Huguette Labelle, chairman of the TI board of directors.

The report documented cases of the abuse of power for personal gain by managers of corporate institutions, majority shareholders and other actors.

It also presented evidence of the growing risk of disproportionate influence of corporate lobbying.

The report came as leaders from the Group of 20 advanced and developing nations met in Pittsburgh this week to coordinate new financial rules for preventing future economic crises.

jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr