By Guest on 11 September 2012 in Bribery, Business, Politics

Additional data from Transparency International’s 2011 Bribe Payer’s Survey has been released , providing further insight into corruption in UK business. The data supplements that collected for the 2011 Bribe Payers Index which ranks 28 of the world’s largest economies according to the perceived likelihood of companies from these countries paying bribes abroad, based on the views of business executives.

The data indicates that 17% of the 100 UK businesspeople surveyed report having lost business due to bribes. Globally, 27% of businesspeople surveyed think they have lost business to bribery in the last year. Transparency International’s new report Exporting Corruption helps put UK bribery into perspective. According to the report, 23 foreign bribery cases have been brought in the UK, compared with 275 in the US and 176 in Germany. Six new cases opened last year and there were 29 on-going investigations. The major case of the year involved Macmillan Publishers Limited (MPL), which was fined over £11 million by the SFO for the sums generated through unlawful conduct in its Education Division in East and West Africa.

Of those surveyed in the UK:

• 50% reported that they thought the government was very ineffective or ineffective at fighting corruption in the UK private sector, with only 14% reporting they felt the government was effective;
• Respondents were also asked about the effectiveness of external anti-corruption measures, with due diligence measures, investigative journalism, and national anti-bribery laws getting relatively stronger marks for perceived effectiveness (42%, 41% and 39% respectively);
• Perceived to be less effective were multi-stakeholder initiatives, involving business, government and civil society (20%), inclusion of corruption risks in investors’ valuation models (16%), and international conventions on bribery and corruption (13%).

Effectiveness of anti-corruption measures within companies received higher marks across the board with auditing perceived to be the most effective (70%), followed by due diligence on partners in the supply chain (64%), company anti-corruption policies (54%), anti-corruption standards in the companies’ Corporate Social Responsibility agenda (48%), and collective business initiatives against corruption (42%).

The implementation of the UK Bribery Act represents a step forward in the fight against corruption in UK business. This should incentivise a greater number of UK companies to ensure they have adequate internal procedures to prevent bribery. However, funding cuts to the SFO could hinder enforcement, warns Transparency International. The government must ensure sufficient resources are available for the effective enforcement of the Bribery Act, and that changes to the institutional arrangements for law enforcement ahead of the establishment of the National Crime Agency in 2013 do not reduce resources and downgrade the priority attached to foreign bribery.

Amanda Kelly is the Communications Intern at TI-UK
 

About Guest

The TI-UK blog features thought and opinion from guest writers as well as TI staff. Any opinions expressed by external contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Transparency International UK.