Jeremy Cole, Partner and joint co-ordinator of the Bribery and Corruption Task Force at Lovells, has warned the Joint Committee on the Draft Bribery Bill that the proposed provisions may not be enough to encourage UK businesses to self-report instances of bribery.
Appearing on 3 June in front of the Committee, which is composed of members of both the House of Lords and House of Commons, Jeremy praised the Draft Bill for meeting its primary objectives, but suggested that it could go further to encourage self-reporting along similar lines to the US regime.
Jeremy said:
"Will the Bribery Bill be effective? I think the answer to that is quite clearly yes. Will corporates put in a stronger compliance regime as a result of the Bill? Again, my response to that is yes. Will corporates self-report when they have problems?
My answer to that is probably no. Our system is focussed on prosecutions...[and it is concerning that] the Ministry of Justice has estimated that this new corporate offence will result in an average increase in prosecutions of only 1.3 a year which does not sound particularly threatening or frightening."
Cole queried whether the committee would want to encourage a culture of self reporting, as is familiar in the US, and continued:
"Corporates will not self report unless there is a real opportunity to avoid criminal prosecution. We could encourage corporates to self report on the basis that they have a better sense of what they are letting themselves in for.... If they [some corporates] get a criminal conviction their businesses could collapse overnight. So, if they are going to self report, they have to know what the path is ahead of them."
The fact that Lovells was invited to give evidence to the joint committee reflects the high standing the Bribery and Corruption Task Force has attained as a thought leader on bribery and corruption issues.
Further information on the Task Force can be found at
www.lovells.com/briberyandcorruption Representatives from British Aerospace Systems, Thales Group and Lockheed Martin also gave testimony at the hearing. Full recorded coverage of the hearing can be found at
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=4194 .
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