§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many reports of evidence of overseas bribery or suspected bribery by a UK company have been passed to the Inland Revenue's Special Compliance Officer by Inland Revenue staff since November 1997; and how many of these reports were passed on by Inland Revenue to the(a) prosecution and (b) law enforcement agencies. [151442]
§ Dawn PrimaroloSection 19 of the Anti-Terrorism (Crime and Security) Act 2001 provides a gateway for the Revenue to pass information about a possible criminal offence of bribery to other agencies where the evidence warrants such a disclosure. No such gateway existed before.
The Inland Revenue does not keep central records of cases referred to other agencies, but does not believe that the section 19 gateway has been used to date to refer a case of suspected bribery.