VCCI warns about severe corruption About 49% of the FDI firms still have to bribe authorities, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) reported at the launch of the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) on March 14.    Corruption is severe in Vietnam Several surveys have been carried out with FDI firms to ask what obstacles they faced during investment in Vietnam such as 'greasing fees' when asking for permits, joining agreements to provide goods and services for state agencies or when doing customs and court procedures. However, most of the firms were reluctant to answer or didn't answer truthfully for fear of being harassed later, especially firms from countries that signed the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. 25% of firms admitted that they had given bribes for investment permits and 13.6% said they gave commission money to compete for contracts from state agencies. Both of these rates were lower than 2015. 32% of firms said they always faced difficulties when refusing to give bribes, 26% often and 30% sometimes have those difficulties. According to the VCCI, the total amount of money lost to corruption should not include only direct bribery money but also the lost effectiveness of the project when weak contractors are selected. The cost of projects have increased against estimates, while the quality is often poorer. The survey also points out that 49% of firms confirmed that they had given bribes when doing customs procedures, a decrease of 10% from previous year. 56% agreed with the statement that state officials used the excuse to monitoring the law compliance to ask for bribes. 19% said they decided against lawsuits for fear of bribery in court. On the other hand, there are also many firms actively give bribes to officials. 45% gave bribes during inspections last year to reduce the probability of fines. They think that bribery is common now; it's an unwritten rule so they actively give bribes without being asked for. "Such perceptions show the severity of corruption in Vietnam and the difficulty of the fight against corruption. It has become so common that both sides don't even need to mention it anymore," VCCI said in the report. Dantrinews