TI-UK welcomes joint committee's report on the Bribery Bill

Monday, 27 July 2009

Transparency International-UK welcomes the all-party Joint Committee’s strong endorsement of the need for early adoption of the Government's draft anti-bribery law. In a remarkable report published today, the Committee describes the draft Bill as an essential step forward, and urges the Government to focus on the need for rigorous enforcement backed with adequate resources. After hearing a huge amount of evidence in barely half of the ten weeks available to it, the Committee has made a number of constructive recommendations to the Government.

1. The basic bribery offences based on improper conduct are welcomed, and the Committee was not impressed with suggestions that account should be taken of so-called 'cultural differences' to bribery. Commending the Government's proposal for a specific offence of bribing a foreign public official, the Report wants the defence of belief that a payment was 'legitimately due' to be considerably tightened.
2. On the proposed new corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery, the Committee saw no point in including a requirement that the prosecution prove negligence. The Committee preferred a clean offence, with strict liability unless a company can demonstrate that it had adequate procedures in place to eliminate bribes paid on its behalf.
3. Acknowledging calls from business witnesses for official 'guidance' as to how the new law would be operated, the Committee recommended a new clause giving the Government power to approve guidance by appropriate bodies - without any need to delay passage of the Bill.
4. The Committee disagreed with the Government's desire to exempt the security services from the ban on bribery and recommended that the relevant clauses be removed.
5. It endorsed the proposal to transfer the need for Attorney General consent to prosecute bribery to the Director of Public Prosecutions and other officials responsible for prosecution. This should meet repeated concern from the OECD Working Group on Bribery about political interference in potentially embarrassing cases.

The Committee leaves no doubt as to what it expects the Government now to do: improve the Bill as the Committee has recommended and introduce it for early enactment before the next general election. The Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, said six weeks ago he would introduce the Bill in the current parliamentary session, which should ensure its place on the statute book early in 2010.

"The scrutiny committee has done an outstanding job", TI-UK Chairman John Drysdale said today in welcoming the Report. "After years of dithering and delay, the Government now has no excuse not to act immediately. We welcome in particular the Committee's recognition of the need for full compliance with the UK's international obligations. If the Government now acts, we can at last begin to take a lead in eliminating bribery from international business", he added.