Corruption and Bribery

No company conducting business in the UK can ignore the stringent provisions of the UK Bribery Act. This far reaching legislation governs the conduct of companies and individuals in respect of bribery and related corrupt practices. It imposes significant penalties of unlimited fines on companies and up to 10 years imprisonment for individuals and addresses the UK Government’s objective to comply with its international obligations in this area. 

The UK law in this area addresses facilitations payments and corporate hospitality and on the international stage is often operated in conjunction with other overseas legislation, such as the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Services

We have a tremendous track record in advising corporate and individual clients in this area having been involved in many of the most significant corruption and bribery cases over the last 40 years. 

As well as advising in respect of active or potential criminal investigations, we also advise companies on drafting or improving corporate compliance programmes, conduct due diligence on potential contracts and assist with risk assessments in respect of overseas operations.

Our expertise in this field has been widely recognised, with our being invited by Parliament to  advise in relation to the UK legislation and by the OECD to report on the UK’s performance in taking effective anti-corruption measures. We were also asked to assist the GC100 (The Association of General Counsel and Company Secretaries of the FTSE 100) in preparing its submissions for the House of Commons Joint Committee considering the Bribery Bill.

We are currently instructed to act for a huge multi-national corporation in the largest current global corruption investigation.

In addition, our corruption case load dates back to the 1970s and includes well publicised cases such as:

• the SFO investigations of BAe and the al-Yamamah contract
• the ‘Cash For Honours’ enquiry
• the United Nations’ ‘Oil For Food Programme’
• allegations involving countries such as Nigeria, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and the Former Yugoslavia