Despite the Labour Government’s insistence that it takes bribery seriously, a recent report put together by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and adopted by the Working Group on Bribery and International Transactions in March 2005, shows that there has yet to be a prosecution under the anti-corruption and anti-bribery statutes that are currently in force in the UK.
The UK was one of nine countries, including Australia, Greece and Japan, that were openly criticised by the OECD for not taking the issue of enforcement of these matters seriously enough. The report calls for among other things a “substantially greater enforcement of anti-corruption law” by the UK authorities. The current UK anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws are to be found in 19th and early 20th century legislation, as well as in more recently enacted statutes and case law. The Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and the Prevention of Corruption Act 1916 cover corruption within the UK only, and agents and public servants working in a public body being exposed to temptation.
