TI-UK's selection of 12 interesting articles or reports about corruption published during the past quarter.

 

 

The first few months of 2011 were dominated by the continued delay to implementation of the Bribery Act, and our intensifying ‘no dilution, no delay’ campaign. But February saw a burst of media interest in a different topic prompted by the surging ‘Arab Spring’.  Journalists’ questions about the fate of corrupt dictators’ stolen assets prompted TI-UK to issue a press release calling for an urgent four-point action plan by the UK Government.  As a result, I was interviewed on money laundering and the recovery of looted assets by BBC radio’s ‘PM’ programme and quoted in two major feature spreads in the Times in the weeks that followed.

 

Our late January meeting with Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, at which we sought reassurance that the Bribery Act would be implemented speedily and without dilution, was discouraging. The Secretary of State seemed unaware that the Government had made a commitment in July 2010 to commence the Act in April.  This was especially disappointing since TI-UK had attracted support for its campaign from other anti-corruption groups, notably the Global Poverty Project. The Project had linked its website to TI-UK’s blogspot on the issue, urging the public - with some success - to lodge its concern about the fate of the Act in letters to Ken Clarke.

 

After the Government’s announcement on 31 January that official Guidance on the Act would be delayed a second time, TI-UK stepped up its campaign again – targeting the media, Westminster, Whitehall and stakeholders.  Our press release accusing the Government of pack pedalling, and questioning its commitment to tackling bribery was widely covered in the UK media, including Reuters, the Guardian (see top 12 stories), the Mail on Sunday and London Evening Standard. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in the wake of CBI claims that the Act was ‘not fit for purpose’ and Jeremy Carver was quoted in the Financial Times.

 

We encouraged enlightened members of the business and investment communities to convey their concerns about the Government’s lack of commitment to the Act. We also engaged with partners, such as the Global Poverty Project and the BOND anti-corruption group, to build public support for the Act. And we encouraged MPs and Peers to ask questions in Parliament, and to initiate a House of Lords debate on bribery and corruption. To this end, we issued a ‘Myth and reality’ briefing note to relevant Peers, MPs and journalists, which debunked the myths being peddled by some sections of the business and media communities opposed to the Bribery Act.

 

As a result, the Financial Times carried several reports and letters demonstrating support for the Act from the business and investment communities - notably one citing Mark Pieth, the Chair of the OECD’s Working Group on bribery (see top 12 stories). We were also signatories to a BOND group letter to the OECD drawing attention to the delay in implementation of the Bribery Act. Meanwhile we were in contact with Ministry of Justice officials urging them not to water down the draft official Guidance which had already been through a public consultation process that officially closed on 8 November 2010.   

 

When the official guidance was finally published at the end of March – in our view considerably watered down from the previous draft – TI-UK’s critical reaction was widely reported in the media including the Financial Times, the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, the Times, the Observer, Law Society Gazette, and by the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies. A letter setting the record straight on TI-UK’s position on the Bribery Act Guidance was also published by the Financial Times following a misleading reference by an FT columnist. Mark D’arcy’s BBC parliamentary blog on the Act also quoted TI-UK.   The Act will enter into force on 1 July and TI-UK will be closely monitoring its enforcement.

TI-UK submitted a response to the Parliamentary International Development Committee Inquiry into Financial Crime and Development. The inquiry focused primarily on the modalities for providing compensation to countries affected by UK foreign bribery cases.

TI increasingly finds that working with investors is one of the most effective means of disseminating its anti-bribery and corruption messages and promoting the business case against corruption.   TI-UK teamed up with TI-Australia to work with one of Australia’s brokers (Citi) to familiarize them with TI’s Transparency in Company Reporting on Anti-Corruption (TRAC) methodology, and the materiality of bribery and corruption to investors.  In March we gave a breakfast briefing for about 30 Australian investors after which Citi produced a briefing note using a TRAC-derived methodology to rate selected Australian companies.

 

5. Oxford Anti-Corruption Conference TI-UK has assisted the development of Oxford University’s Kellogg Centre for the Study of Governance and Transparency, the only academic centre of its kind in the UK.   In January, more than fifty people from academia, government, the private sector and the media participated in the first Oxford Anti-Corruption Conference, organised jointly by the Kellogg Centre and TI-UK.  The speakers included Lord Falconer and Paul Collier and the agenda covered a wide range of topics, including the Bribery Act, judicial approaches to tackling corruption, problems of corruption in peace building, and tackling corruption in the context of international development.     Conference materials and summaries of proceedings are by Ben Yudkin. 

At the TI-UK speakers meeting in March, TI-UK Trustee, Helen Garlick, gave a very well received talk about the Corruption Hunters Network, an invitation-only international group of current and former heads of anti-corruption bodies supported by the Norwegian Government. The group’s aim is to support and build capacity in countries where anti-corruption prosecutors are under severe pressure.

TI-DSP continued to lobby for a strong anti-corruption mechanism in a robust UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).  The team attended a cross-Whitehall technical meeting on corruption in an ATT, organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and attended by representatives from other government departments, the defence industry and civil society.  The meeting gave TI-DSP the opportunity to share its suggestions and to directly address the questions of the different UK stakeholders.

 

TI-DSP also attended the second PrepCom for a UN ATT in New York in early March. This was much more successful than we had hoped, both in terms of the number of states expressing their support for including anti-corruption mechanisms, and in the reference to corruption in the new version of the Chair’s Draft Papers. The content of the statements made, as well as the number of times corruption was mentioned, underlined the value of the team’s continuous discussions. Some states with previous reservations, now publicly support anti-corruption. This achievement was picked up by the high-profile Huffington Post blog with TI-DSP invited to contribute a report.

 

In the UK context, TI-DSP submitted written evidence to the UK Government’s Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC). In their annual report for 2011, published on 5 April, the Committee’s key recommendations were in line with TI-DSP’s evidence - that the UK Government should introduce a much stronger focus on addressing corruption risks when issuing arms export licences.

 

The defence team continues to work with individual countries. At the end of January, in conjunction with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), TI-DSP held a two-day high-level conference on Afghanistan with significant Afghan participation.

 

January’s Afghanistan conference was followed by two Building Integrity (BI) courses of intensive training for senior Afghan police and army staff by TI and NATO instructors. As corruption in Afghanistan is inevitably linked to the country’s security and stability, TI and NATO training there plays a very important role.  Participants were very enthusiastic about the course and said that they had learned many new ways in which they could now tackle corruption.    

 

In the UK, TI-DSP gave a briefing on the impact of corruption and how to tackle it to an army brigade prior to its deployment in Helmand, Afghanistan.  This was particularly well received, and further work on brigade briefings is planned in conjunction with the UK Counter-insurgency Centre. 

 

The defence team’s work with NATO has progressed significantly. In January, TI-DSP attended the Building Integrity Implementing Partners Conference hosted by the UK Defence Academy at Shrivenham. It drew together various members from NATO, the UK and other European institutions, and provided an opportunity to exchange experiences as well as develop plans for Phase 2 of the NATO BI programme.  In February, the TI-DSP training team conducted a breakout workshop at the NATO Anti-Corruption conference at Monterey in the US to address the future of NATO’s Phase 2 BI training programme.  This was well received and will help prepare the ground for the planned NATO BI Subject Matter Expert capacity-building workshop scheduled at the UK Defence Academy in May.

 

March 8 marked the launch of the second edition of TI’s Handbook for Defence Officials at a special event hosted by Chatham House. The new Handbook is accessible, graphically attractive and rich with content and examples. The Handbook has been very well received as a solid piece of work that can make a real difference by providing guidance for defence officials. Some 400 copies have already been distributed to defence officials and stakeholders across the globe.

 

The April edition of Chatham House’s World Today published an article by Mark Pyman and William Hughes (the former head of the Serious Organised Crime Agency) on the topic of organised crime, corruption, and the defence and security sector.

 

TI-DSP has also published Codes of Conduct in Defence Ministries and Armed Forces: What Makes a Good Code of Conduct? It is a multi-country study, which gives guidance for defence officials and military officers on how to strengthen their organisations’ integrity and reduce corruption using strong and effective codes of conduct.

 

In today’s fast-paced, internet-based world, getting our messages across to the right people at the right time and in the most up-to-date and appropriate way, is a vital part of our work. In recognition of the central role communications now plays, we have appointed Rachel Davies as a full-time TI-UK Communications Officer in place of our part-time manager, Janice Allen.  We look forward to working with Rachel to expand and improve our communications efforts – reaping the benefits of a higher profile and recognition for TI-UK and its work.   I would like to thank Janice for her sterling help over the past couple of years, despite being able to work only part-time.  You will have seen the positive influence she has had behind the scenes on our press coverage and in editing our publications.

 

The TI defence team is also improving its communications with an updated website due to be launched this month. It will serve as an information portal, not only for TI’s Defence Programme, but also for anyone interested in countering corruption in the defence and security sphere.

9. Members news

TI-UK member, Dr Rosamund Thomas, Director of the Centre for Business and Public Sector Ethics, Cambridge, is the editor of a recently-published book, Business Ethics, which covers a range of topical perspectives on the issue from experts across the globe. Topics include the global financial crisis; conflicts of interest; the ethics of leadership; mergers, acquisitions and takeover activity; the interfaces between religion, culture and ethics; and the issues around social media and companies’ ethical behaviour. The book is available from www.ethicspress.com

Two major TI-UK publications are in the pipeline for early summer. One looks at the regulation of potential conflicts of interest arising from the so-called revolving door – where individuals switch between jobs in public office and the private sector. Questions were raised over the effectiveness of regulation after a TV documentary last year revealed undercover footage of ex-government ministers peddling their influence to private consultancies. Carried out for TI-UK by Dr Liz David-Barrett of Oxford University, the report and recommendations for reform will be published later this month.  The research has been funded by the Network for Social Change.

 

The other is the culmination of TI-UK’s major research project into corruption in the UK - carried out on our behalf by Professor Michael Macaulay of Teesside University and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Garfield Weston Foundation. Part one of the research was published last December. Parts two and three will be published on 15 June. That same evening, Prof Macaulay will present his findings at our evening speaker event, hosted by Norton Rose. Please reserve your place early by contacting Jan Lanigan. The October TI-UK event - with speaker Elena Panfilova, the head of TI-Russia, is also likely to attract a large audience. Please see dates for the diary page of this newsletter for details.

 

Now we have a commencement date for the Bribery Act, TI-UK’s work on this issue is far from over. The key question is the Government’s commitment to enforcement.  Reportedly, the Serious Fraud Office is to be swallowed up by a new National Crime Agency and there are doubts about whether its resources will be sufficient for the task, whether a new agency will prioritise corruption, and whether the powers of investigator and prosecutor will be split.  We will be monitoring the developments on enforcement and, if necessary, pressing for amendments to the Government Guidance. To keep abreast of TI-UK’s take on developments through our news releases, blog posts and publications, please visit our website www.transparency.org.uk

 

With best wishes,

 

Executive Director, Transparency International UK

 

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Speaker          Professor Michael Macaulay, Teesside University

Location         Norton Rose, 3 More London Riverside, London SE1 2AQ

Timing            18.00 Registration and drinks reception

                       18.30 Presentation, followed by Q&A

                       19.45 Close

 

Speaker          Elena Panfilova, Executive Director, TI Russia

Location         Norton Rose, 3 More London Riverside, London SE1 2AQ

                       18.00 Registration and drinks reception

                       18.30 Presentation, followed by Q&A

                       19.45 Close

 

Followed by a presentation

Host                FTI, Forensic Accounting

                        Holborn Gate, 26 Southampton Buildings, WC2A 1PB

Timing             17.45 Registration

                        18.00 AGM

                        18.45 Presentation, followed by Q&A

                        19.30 Drinks reception

                        20.15 Close

 

Speaker          Clare Short, Chair of the international Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and former UK Secretary of State for International Development. 

Location         Clifford Chance, 10 Upper Bank Street, London, E14 5JJ

Timing            18.00 Registration

                       18.30 Lecture, followed by Q&A

                       19.45 Drinks reception

                       20.30 Close