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Bribery Act Essentials for 2012
CICES 28 February 2012
Barry Vitou & Neil McInnes
Outline
• What is a bribe?
• What is the new law? – Key provisions– ‘Adequate Procedures’ defence
• How do you identify your corruption risks?
• Specific issues and hot topics – Gifts and Hospitality– Facilitation Payments
• What are the regulators up to?
Spotting bungs
• Serious Fraud Office cases– The “after sales service fee”– The “Professional Education” fund– Gifts to spouses – Offshore structures and agents
• Closer to home– “10 x £50” notes– An electronics gadget– A family holiday to Italy– Getting the house re-wired
• SFO Corruption Indicators
Bribery Act on a page
• In force 1 July 2011 – wide jurisdictional reach
• Corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery– Associated person liability– Defence of adequate procedures
• Other offences replace existing UK corruption laws:– Bribing another person– Being bribed– Bribing a foreign public official– Director and Senior Officer liabilities
• A commonsense definition?
• Sentencing powers, Proceeds of Crime, debarment and other sanctions
Not perfect, but adequate
• Having ‘adequate procedures’ in place is a full defence to the new corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery
• Government Guidance published on 30 March 2011
• What is ‘adequate’ will depend on the circumstances:
– Proportionate to bribery risks faced by an organisation
– Nature, scale and complexity of organisation’s activities also relevant
– Procedures should be “clear, practical, accessible, effectively implemented, and enforced”
Six principles for happy compliance
Monitoring and Review
Capturing your corruption risk
The Grand Prix and Wimbledon. Tick?
• Corporate Hospitality
– Hospitality intended to induce improper performance?
or– reasonable public relations, enhance knowledge of your organisation etc?
• Gifts and Incentives
• What the SFO have said : http://thebriberyact.com/corporate-hospitality/
Grease payments
• What are facilitation payments?
• How to spot them?
• How to resist them?
• What organisations are doing to protect themselves
• What the SFO have said : http://thebriberyact.com/facilitation-payments/
Jail time and following the money• Lessons from the US
• Current UK enforcement approach
– Proceeds of Crime Act
– Self-reporting and whistleblowing
– Criminal prosecutions
• Priorities for the new SFO Director?
– The non-UK corporate?
– The complicit senior officer?
Contacts
Barry Vitou, Partner
020 7490 6501
Neil McInnes, Senior Associate, Barrister
020 7490 6407
Working hard to make it easier
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