The Bribery Bill will become law in a climate in which the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have been cracking down on bribery, including bribes paid to win contracts overseas and receipt of irregular payments.
The SFO wants to focus on the real offenders, rather than those trying to do the right thing. In practice there are likely to be few prosecutions, and for the good guys there should be nothing significant to fear in the new laws, but it will be important to be prepared.”
The Act introduces four new offences:
• to offer promise or give a bribe
• to request, agree to receive or accept a bribe
• a separate offence of bribery of foreign public officials
• the Corporate Offence is an entirely new offence of failure by relevant commercial organisations to prevent bribery by those working on behalf of the business – including employees, agents and subsidiaries (whether domestic or foreign)
Senior managers may be personally liable if bribery committed by companies was done with their consent or collusion.
This means personal liability for senior officers is a real risk, and it applies whether the target business is a public or private one.”
The Corporate Offence will require all corporations to treat bribery as a serious issue and compel them to establish systems to prevent bribery on their behalf.
They will be expected to have in place:
• a clear statement acknowledging Board responsibility for the anti-corruption programme
• risk assessment provisions
• clear policies and procedures requirements
• appropriate implementation provisions
• provisions dealing with due diligence, and relationships with business partners
• monitoring and review of actions/conduct
Many companies will already have some of these in place, but it is important to recognise that no one size fits all.
Every company will be different, and must consider factors such as:
• level of risk the company faces
• the geography in which it operates
• internal and external culture
• what is considered acceptable in the markets it operates in
• whether it has large scale contracts and key account relationships
• the role of introducers/intermediaries
• the role of government contracts
• who in the business is particularly exposed to risk in relation to the making of/receipt of gifts?
We all must understand the new law, consider the policies they already have in place, and look at ways to make it clear to employees what is and is not acceptable.