OECD Report Attacks British Failure to Tackle Corporate Bribery and Corruption
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain's failure to tackle corporate bribery and corruption allegations was severely criticised in a report started after the Government blocked an investigation into a huge arms deal between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said it was "disappointed and seriously concerned about the UK's continued failure to address deficiencies in its laws on bribery of foreign public officials and on corporate liability for foreign bribery".

Compiled by the OECD's anti-corruption working group, the report said that British law makes it "very difficult for prosecutors to bring an effective case against a company for alleged bribery offences".

And the Government was slated for its failure to successfully prosecute a single firm for bribery, despite ratifying the body's anti-bribery convention 10 years ago.

The strength of criticism and lack of diplomatic language used in the report will be embarrassing for the Government, which in 2006 urged the Serious Fraud Office to drop an investigation into BAE's Al Yamamah contract with Saudi.

Earlier this year the Law Lords said the SFO was right to drop the investigation on national security grounds. BAE Systems has always denied any wrongdoing.

The OECD usually carries out reviews on members every two years, but decided to undertake an extra investigation of the UK's enforcement of the anti-bribery convention following the controversial BAE decision.

The body urged Britain to rapidly bring its legislation into line with its international obligations under the convention. >>> By Russell Hotten | October 17, 2008

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BAE to Appoint Ethics Tsar After Bribery Claims
THE TELEGRAPH: BAE Systems is to appoint a senior executive to oversee the implementation of a new code of conduct at the defence company after its chairman, Dick Olver [sic], and chief executive, Mike Turner, accepted that it had not paid sufficient attention to ethical standards.

The company, Europe's largest arms manufacturer, is to incorporate 23 recommendations laid out yesterday in the Woolf Report, commissioned last year after years of allegations that BAE had engaged in bribery and corruption to win contracts. 

The 146-page report, dismissed as a whitewash by some and a road map to better corporate governance by others, also calls on the Government and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to play a greater role in improving the reputation of Britain's defence industry.

The year-long inquiry, led by retired senior judge Lord Woolf of Barnes, recommends that BAE publishes and implements a global code of ethical business conduct with regular, independent audits of that conduct. "Critically, both the chairman and chief executive, in discussions with us, acknowledged that the company did not in the past pay sufficient attention to ethical standards and avoid activities that had the potential to give rise to reputational damage," the report said.

BAE's insufficient attention to ethical standards was combined with an "acceptance of conditions which constrained its ability to explain the full circumstances of its activities", the report said. "These contributed to widely held perceptions that it was involved in inappropriate behaviour. They recognise that, justly or otherwise, these perceptions have damaged the company's reputation." BAE to Appoint Ethics Tsar After Bribery Claims >>> By Russell Hotten | May 7, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
Woolf Report Points BAE Towards Higher Moral Ground >>> By Damian Reece | May 7, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
Putting a Gloss on Unethical Business Practices >>>


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ethics tsar