The Ministry of Justice has today published its long-awaited guidance for corporates on putting in place "adequate procedures" to prevent bribery under the Bribery Act 2010. To view a copy of the guidance click here. The offences created by the Act will now come into force on 1 July 2011. As expected, Joint Prosecution Guidance by the Serious Fraud Office and Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the Act has also been published today.
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Today, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keir Starmer QC, and the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Richard Alderman, issued joint guidance for prosecutors on the Bribery Act 2010.
The Bribery Act, which is expected to come into force later this year, creates four distinct criminal offences of:
- bribing another
- being bribed
- bribing a foreign official
- (for commercial organisations) failing to prevent bribery.
The purpose of the guidance is to set out the Directors' approach to deciding whether to bring a prosecution under the Act.
The DPP, Keir Starmer QC, head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said:
"While the Act takes a robust approach to commercial bribery, it also applies to individuals who attempt to influence the application of rules, regulations and normal procedures.
"This guidance will enable prosecutors to adopt a consistent approach to decision making across the whole range of bribery cases.
"The issues prosecutors must consider before deciding whether to seek my consent to prosecute an individual or an organisation for bribery are clearly outlined, and by making this guidance publicly available, our approach is made open and transparent."
The SFO's Director, Richard Alderman, said:
"The Bribery Act is good news for the UK and UK business. It confirms our commitment to helping to eradicate bribery from business practices. It will help ensure that ethical businesses do not lose out to others that use bribery and corruption to win contracts. We shall enforce the act vigorously, but we are still very keen to listen to specific issues that companies have. I want to work with ethical businesses to resolve problems pragmatically and fairly".
The guidance makes it clear that there is an inherent public interest in prosecuting bribery.
The guidance also gives examples of how the public interest factors in the Code for Crown Prosecutors and the Guidance on Corporate Prosecutions may be applied to possible prosecutions under the Bribery Act.
The guidance is not exhaustive and prosecutors will be aware of the wide range of circumstances and culpability which may arise in any particular case.
Notes for editors:
- The Bribery Act 2010 replaces the offence of common law bribery and the existing statutory offences of corruption.
- The Act does not affect offences committed wholly or partly before the commencement of the Act .
- The Ministry of Justice has issued guidance for commercial organisations on the procedures they can put in place to prevent people associated with them from bribing - visit http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/bribery.htm
- The Code for Crown Prosecutors is issued by the DPP and gives guidance to prosecutors on the general principles to apply when making decisions about prosecutions.
- Only the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Director of the SFO (or someone they have personally authorised in writing to act on their behalf when they are 'unavailable') can decide to bring a prosecution.
- The Crown Prosecution Service prosecutes bribery offences investigated by the police committed either overseas or in England and Wales.
- The Serious Fraud Office both investigates and prosecutes and is the lead agency for overseas corruption.
- The SFO has conducted a programme of reaching out to companies and to the legal sector to explain the SFO's approach to enforcing this Act. During the past year, the SFO's Director Richard Alderman, Legal Counsel Vivian Robinson QC and other senior staff have carried out over a hundred presentations or briefings both in the UK and overseas. Companies have been given the opportunity to explain their business models and ask the SFO for guidance on a variety of practical issues.
- The Serious Fraud Office is a government department responsible for investigating and prosecuting serious and complex fraud. The SFO is headed by the Director (Richard Alderman) who exercises powers under the superintendence of the Attorney General. These powers are derived from the Criminal Justice Act (1987).
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 30/04/2011.
