Transparency International hopes new ministerial anti-corruption champion Jack Straw will deliver
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Following the Ministry of Justice written ministerial announcement today announcing the new Anti-Corruption Champion Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Transparency International (UK) is again calling for government commitment to deliver a new anti-corruption Bill that is fit for purpose in the fourth session of parliament.
Commenting on the statement, Executive Director of Transparency International (UK), Chandrashekhar Krishnan, said:
“Whilst we welcome increased resources allocated to investigations of foreign bribery in the SFO and City of London Police, the litmus test remains the number of prosecutions. The UK’s record is abysmal.
“There has only been one prosecution in the UK to date in comparison to 105 by the USA, 43 by Germany and 19 by France since the 1997 OECD Anti-Bribery Convention came into force. The UK must deliver more prosecutions. We need a new anti-corruption Bill in the fourth session of parliament that is fit for purpose – we await a formal statement from Rt Hon Jack Straw confirming this.”
Tomorrow the OECD Working Group on Bribery will announce the results of its special review of the UK’s enforcement of the OECD Convention. The working group is expected to be highly critical of the UK’s record.
Commenting on the UK government’s broader anti-corruption strategy, Executive Director of Transparency International (UK), Chandrashekhar Krishnan, said:
“With the Ministry of Justice now taking a lead on anti-corruption while the Secretariat back-up remains in BERR, we hope the coherence of the government’s anti-corruption strategy will not be weakened. We look forward to the next 6 monthly report on implementation.”
Notes to the editor
Transparency International (UK) www.transparency.org.uk
Transparency International (UK) is the National Chapter of the global anti-corruption non-governmental organisation, Transparency International (TI). TI, which is co-ordinated by an international secretariat in Berlin, is a coalition of more than 90 autonomous national chapters who are committed to fighting corruption using transparency as a major tool. TI is dedicated to combating corruption at the national and international levels through constructive partnerships with governments, the private sector, civil society and international organisations.
TI(UK)'s vision is for a world in which government, politics, business, civil society, domestic and international institutions and the daily lives of people are freed from corruption, and in which the UK neither tolerates corruption within its own society and economy, nor contributes to overseas corruption through its international financial, trade and other business relations.
OECD Working Group on Bribery
Foreign bribery cases (and investigations) include all cases involving bribery of foreign public officials, criminal and civil, whether brought under laws dealing with corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, or false accounting.
http://www.oecd.org/document/5/0,3343,en_2649_34859_35430021_1_1_1_1,00.html