Anti-corruption body raps UK, other OECD countries

The failure of many rich states to crack down on bribery in foreign business deals threatens the fight against corruption, and the global economic crisis could make the situation worse, an advocacy group said on Tuesday. Transparency International said only four of the 36 countries that signed an anti-bribery convention by the Paris-based OECD were actively enforcing it.
"The uneven enforcement of this convention is in fact dangerous, especially in the current global recession where businesses face acute pressure to win orders," Managing Director Cobus de Swardt told reporters at an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) hosted forum in Paris.
In a report released at the forum, Transparency International listed danger signals it said could result in the failure of the convention - such as weak anti-bribery laws in Britain and a lack of political will in pursuing cases. "The failure of the OECD convention would arguably be the single most serious setback to the fight against international corruption," de Swardt said.
It would hurt other international conventions as well as anti-corruption campaigns in poorer countries, he added. Last year, the OECD criticised Britain for failing to address gaps in its anti-bribery laws and said it could have done more to probe allegations of corruption in arms deals with Saudi Arabia. Mark Pieth, chairman of the OECD's working group on bribery in international business deals, said on Tuesday that fighting bribery in the defence sector was particularly difficult because of secrecy and national safety issues.
France also came under fire for proposing to abolish the role of the investigating magistrate and shift power to the politically appointed public prosecutor, who might be less keen to pursue cases that would embarrass French leaders. OECD members adopted the convention on combating bribery of foreign officials in 1997. But Transparency International said only Germany, Norway, Switzerland and the United States were seriously enforcing the convention.