When Transparency International (TI) releases its annual report on corruption, as it did today, we all know more or less what to expect. We may be surprised on the margins (Italy is less corrupt(!); Germany, the UK and the US slightly more so), but in general TI confirms that the international community is right to tsk tsk the sorry state of business and governance in places like Burma and the DRC.

This year TI chose to go at these problem countries a different way; the top finding of this report is about complicit multi-national companies (MNCs): From the Financial Times, quoting the new TI report: "Western multinationals and financial centres are often 'complicit in driving corruption in poor nations.'"

Huguette Labelle, TI chairwoman, criticised multinationals for double-standards, paying bribes in poor countries while behaving better at home, according to an advance copy of her speech at Wednesday’s launch in London.

“The bribe money that buys a champagne lifestyle for corrupt officials in the poorest countries often originates in multinational companies based in the world’s richest countries – the CPI’s top scorers”, she said.

In addition, TI said “wealthy countries must regulate their financial centres more strictly”, as these allow “corrupt officials to move, hide and invest their illicitly gained wealth”.

While one cannot help but approve of TI's finger-wagging (it is well-deserved), I would normally despair of its usefulness. Civil society activists have been shouting accusations at MNCs for a long time, with minimal success.

But after hearing Paul Collier -- author of The Bottom Billion -- speak at Brookings yesterday, I find myself encouraged. One of Collier's best ideas is to institute clearly-defined international codes and standards for the way that contracts are negotiated and handled between developing countries and MNCs. (For instance, all contracts would be awarded by public auction, not private back-room deal. And there would be internationally-agreed terms for spending of such revenue, drawing a line in the sand between honest countries that sign on and dishonest ones that don't.) You can get a glimpse of Collier's framework in this area on The Huffington Post.

Collier is no voice crying in the wilderness on this point. By teaming with TI's work to push for MNCs to adopt the same standards in poor countries as they have in rich ones, Collier's ideas could come to fruition.