BRIBERY: European heads of legal want US-style penalties


Corporate clients in the UK and Europe are calling for tougher laws to prevent bribery and corruption, a report has revealed.



Half of all UK companies thought the authorities had been too reluctant to take legal action against suspected bribery, according to the 2008 European Corporate Integrity Survey.



No bribery prosecution has been brought in the ten years since the UK government adopted the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Anti-Bribery Convention. The abandoned BAE probe has fuelled dissatisfaction with the current system, the research found. BAE denies any wrongdoing.



Across Europe, companies want to see strict US-style penalties for breaches of corporate ethics and compliance, according to the survey of heads of legal in more than 100 European companies, commissioned by Integrity Interactive. More than half want to see an equivalent of the US Federal Sentencing Guidelines - which saw ex-Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling jailed for 24 years - and think this would result in fewer instances of corporate wrongdoing.



Jeremy Cole, a litigation partner at City firm Lovells' international fraud department, said: 'To bring successful prosecutions, the UK authorities need more money and more people. Also, there is a patchwork quilt of anti-corruption legislation that requires attention.'



He added: 'The corporates want a level playing field. They want to ensure both they and the competition are complying with anti-corruption provisions.'



The report came as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said last week that it intended to step up criminal prosecutions and increase financial penalties against insider dealers. According to FSA data, 19% of merger and acquisition announcements were preceded by price movements consistent with insider dealing last year.



James Dean