1 July 2011 | Angeline Albert
From today, businesses must have “adequate
procedures” to prevent bribery in their organisations, under a new law to
combat corruption.
The
Bribery Act 2010 creates four new
criminal offences – in essence bribing someone, being bribed, bribing a foreign
official and, for commercial organisations, failing to prevent bribery.
Individuals found guilty now
face a maximum of 10 years in prison, and the punishment for businesses is an
unlimited fine.
The Act replaces the UK’s existing, assorted “out
of date” legislation and will bring the UK’s rules in line with international anti-corruption
regulations.
Companies
can now be prosecuted for failing to stop staff or people associated with them
from bribing another person on their behalf. But businesses will have a defence
if they can prove they have adequate procedures in place to prevent corrupt
behaviour.
Ministry ofJustice guidance published in March clarified what companies must do, including the type of procedures they must
put in place to prevent bribery and avoid prosecution. The government has
suggested a number of principles companies should comply with to establish a
suitable defence. These include: making procedures proportionate; top-level
commitment; risk assessment; due diligence; communication (including training);
and monitoring and reviewing.
In the guidance, justice secretary Ken Clarke described the Act as
“directed at making life difficult for the mavericks responsible for
corruption, not unduly burdening the vast majority of decent, law-abiding
firms.”