June 18, 2007
EU anti-bribery laws
Bizarre details come to light today in an EU report on laws to fight corruption in the private sector.
It turns out that “many” EU members have yet to make it a criminal offence to give or receive a bribe through an intermediary.
So, in theory, the cash-stuffed brown envelope deal-making school is alive, well and legal - so long as the gift is given indirectly. But is this really what it seems?
For a start, bribery in the private sector is criminalised in various ways at national levels, an EU official and a lawyer said.
Still, some countries have failed to tick every box when it comes to criminalising all circumstances in which corruption is possible, and with that, even usual paragons of virtue such as Finland are falling well short of minimum EU-wide requirements.
The other weird thing is that the UK (along with Belgium) is top of the class in implementing the EU anti-bribery laws in the private sector.
Funny - because Britain, on the grounds of national security, recently scrapped a two-and-half year investigation into bribery allegations surrounding arms manufacturer BAE Systems’ relationships with Saudi Arabia.
Please someone, anyone try to investigate what is happening with the privatization of the Bulgarian Maritime Shipping Company. The whole process is corrupt. No information is given out to the public and the company is going to be sold for 10% of what it is worth. Please help!!!!
Posted by: blueberry | May 9th, 2008 at 9:37 am | Report this comment