Since 1995, Transparency International UK has played a leading role in tackling corruption in the UK, Britain’s role in corruption overseas, and corruption in global sectors critical to international security and development.
We achieve this through impartial, evidence-based research, the design of new standards and solutions and the education of decision-makers. We drive change through constructive advocacy and by providing support and expertise to others aligned to our cause.
Our significant achievements to date include leading the campaign for the creation of the UK Bribery Act (2010), amongst the strongest international legislation on bribery. We secured the introduction of Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) in the UK, which have been used by the police to seize the proceeds of corruption laundered through the UK. We created powerful benchmarking tools helping dozens of FTSE 100 companies significantly improve their anti-corruption programmes. We created a global Government Defence Integrity Index which is now relied on by governments and civil society to achieve accountable and transparent defence institutions. We supported the transformation of health procurement in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to prevent losses to corruption and ensure better access to medicines.
This strategy seeks to build on these strong foundations. It provides guiding principles to drive all of our programmes to achieve the greatest possible impact. It also underscores the need to address corruption with greater scale and ambition, across the UK and internationally.
In our report ‘In Whose Interest?’, Transparency International UK has looked at how some parliamentarians are engaging in activity that appears to be supporting or legitimating the actions of corrupt and repressive regimes in Azerbaijan, Russia and Bahrain. Although these case studies reflect a range of engagement – from potentially unknowing legitimation through to seemingly active endorsement – the effect of these activities is to provide a veneer of respectability to foreign regimes that stymie freedom of expression, ride roughshod over the rule of law and abuse their positions of power for personal enrichment.