BANGKOK -- Who says British and American companies are losing out in the Southeast Asian market? At least two major corruption scandals that broke in January seem to indicate that Anglo-American multinationals have been holding their own against their Asian rivals, at least in Thailand.
First, the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office in mid-January revealed that British engine manufacturer Rolls Royce admitted to paying about $36 million in bribes to secure airplane engine sales to Thai Airways International in various deals between 1991 and 2005. Then came the allegation from the U.S. Department of Justice that the Kentucky-based General Cable, via Phelps Dodge International, had provided $1.5 million in "rebates" to a local distributor in Thailand in connection to sales of cables and wires to three Thai state enterprises -- the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, Provincial Electricity Authority and Telephone Organization of Thailand -- between 2011 and 2013.
