Enforcing the UK's overseas anti-corruption legislation
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"Enforcing the law on overseas corruption offences: Towards a
model for excellence"
by Dr Susan Hawley
A discussion paper
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk
Bribery and corruption are significant problems worldwide -- and
UK companies, subsidiaries and individuals are not innocent of
paying out bribes.
It is hard to find out how much overseas bribery involves UK
companies, but while many allegations have been made, few have
been investigated.
The UK does have legislation in place to combat bribery and cor-
ruption, but has been slow in enforcing it.
In this step-by-step guide to the UK's anti-bribery legislation,
policy researcher Dr Susan Hawley explains why the UK should ex-
ercise its jurisdiction over overseas corruption offences.
She details how the current arrangements in the UK between the
various law enforcement agencies are not the most effective
means of ensuring that these offences are investigated and
prosecuted.
Hawley concludes by outlining a more pro-active enforcement re-
gime that could detect overseas corruption offences as and when
they occur and that could act on credible suspicions of bribery.
Since 1997, the OECD has had a Convention on Combating Bribery
of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transac-
tions, a Convention that has been in force since 1999 and that
the UK has signed.
The OECD Convention is accompanied by two stages of monitoring:
- Phase 1 assesses whether the legislation passed in each coun-
try to implement the Convention is adequate;
- Phase 2 assesses how countries are enforcing this legislation.
Dr Hawley wrote this paper as a contribution to the UK's Phase 2
assessment, which took place in July 2004 and will be published
in March 2005.
"Enforcing the law on overseas corruption offences: Towards a
model for excellence"
by Dr Susan Hawley
is now on The Corner House website, http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk
on the home page and under 'documents: corruption'
Susan Hawley/Sarah Sexton/Nicholas Hildyard/Larry Lohmann
The Corner House