§ Lord Thomson of Monifiethasked Her Majesty's Government:
What response they have made to the consultations on the monitoring of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development anti-bribery convention.
§ The Minister for Science, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)My Lords, the Government have participated fully in the first phase of the monitoring process of the OECD Convention Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials. We shall consider carefully, in the context of the reform of UK legislation on corruption, how best to ensure that UK law is as effective as possible in the fight against corruption in international trade.
§ Lord Thomson of MonifiethMy Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. Is he aware that the United Kingdom branch of Transparency International, an organisation that carries out good work in this area, strongly believes that, in order for the United Kingdom Government properly to fulfil their obligations, there ought to be a relatively simple amendment made to our domestic law in the area of corrupt practices that would enable British citizens who commit an act of bribery overseas to be prosecuted in this country?
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleMy Lords, the Government are determined to tackle corruption. We have played a leading role in the negotiation of the convention. Last year we were among the first to ratify the convention. The convention, of course, requires that we review the existing jurisdictional basis of legislation in order to judge whether it is effective in combating international bribery. We shall do that as part of the review that the Home Office is conducting into existing anti-corruption legislation.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyMy Lords, will the Minister undertake to look at the audit carried out in December into legal compliance by British legislation and, having done so, will he report to the House? As president of Transparency International, I hear that that audit is highly critical of the UK's efforts so far. While I accept that the Minister and perhaps his 1318 colleagues in the Home Office are doing their best, it will not help us to continue our lead role if there is a highly critical audit of our progress to date.
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleMy Lords, we have already looked at that audit and we take it most seriously. It will form part of the review and we shall take any appropriate action.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, will the Minister answer the Question posed by my noble friend? Are the Government willing or not to take control over acts of bribery committed by British citizens in foreign countries and to criminalise them in our courts?
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleMy Lords, we are carrying out the review for that reason. If, in the spirit of prevention, that will improve the effectiveness, yes, in principle we shall do so. We are asking the working party to look at the mechanics.
§ Lord Mackay of ArdbrecknishMy Lords, will the Government publish the audit that was mentioned by my noble friend Lady Chalker so that we can all see what it says?
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleMy Lords, at the moment we cannot report the outcome of the recent examination by the OECD working group on bribery into our anti-bribery legislation because all signatories to the OECD convention have agreed not to make public the outcome of a phase one examination until after the OECD ministerial meeting in May.