UK Bribery Bill challenges
What had until now seemed like a relatively smooth progress through the parliamentary process for the UK Bribery Bill is today looking far less straightforward.
This week, the UK’s new proposed legislation to tackle bribery and corruption overseas reached the Public Bill Committee stage in the House of Commons, having passed through the Lords and the first and second readings in the Commons with little challenge. Click here to read our previous blogs on the progress of the Bill.
However, on the first day of the Committee stage the broad support from all parties which the Bill had so far enjoyed appeared to disintegrate with the proposal of more than 20 amendments and additions to the Bill by the Tory party. This appears to have been driven by lobbying from sections of UK business, who believe that the Bill in its current form could be detrimental to UK competitiveness.
Commentators are suggesting that the proposals are an attempt to prevent the passing of the Bill before the forthcoming General Election or ensure a much weakened bill is enacted.
The fear is that the amendments being put forward would make it substantially more difficult for prosecutors to successfully pursue those involved in bribery. Significant amongst the proposed amendments are the suggestions that prosecutors would have to prove dishonest or corrupt intent on the part of those found to have given bribes and that facilitation payments would be permissible under certain circumstances such as “to prevent damage to an important commercial interest”.
Alarm has been expressed by organisations such as Transparency International and Cafod who view the passing of the Bill in its original proposed form as an opportunity for the UK to finally step up to the mark and show it is serious about tackling issues of overseas corporate corruption. The OCED is also likely to look critically on these developments having frequently rebuked the UK for its failure to make progress on this agenda.
The Ministry of Justice has already made clear that it will ardently resist the changes. The UK’s credibility in its commitment to fight against bribery and corruption overseas will hinge on it doing so successfully.
This blog was written by Rachel Clark
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