Bribery costs individuals, businesses and economies billions of dollars each year, and there are many international laws and conventions against it. But what happens when your firm operates in a part of the world where it's still the norm?

In this episode we speak to three business people with first-hand experience of backhanders and ask how they can be avoided. One of them tells us he pays bribes as a matter of course, but if you're not willing to, does that mean you simply can't do business?

Contributors: Gary Busch, managing director of political risk analysts Chunguza Associates and also Transport Logistics; Ron Cruse, founder and CEO of freight firm Logenix International and author of 'Lies, Bribes & Peril: Lessons for the Real Challenges of International Business'; and Alexandra Wrage, founder and CEO of anti-bribery consultancy TRACE International.

Presenter: Ed Butler

(Picture: Men passing banknotes under a table. Credit: Getty Images)