§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what departmental investigations her Department has initiated into bribery allegations against a UK company since November 1997. [151511]
§ Mr. SutcliffeThe Department's records concerning Companies Acts investigations are not kept in a manner which facilitates provision of the information requested. However, officials do not believe that any such investigations have been initiated into allegations of bribery since November 1997.
The Department also has a criminal investigation function, established principally to follow up allegations of offences under the Companies and Insolvency Acts. Examination of the records of this section do not reveal any allegations of bribery having been investigated since November 1997.
Such an allegation would, in most instances, be better suited to be dealt with by the wider powers of the police.
§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many allegations of bribery have been received by the National Contact Point for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; and how many of these allegations have been forwarded to the National Criminal Intelligence Service. [151512]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe NCP has received one allegation of bribery. The allegation was received verbally while attending a conference. The NCP asked that details be provided in writing; these details were then passed to the National Criminal Intelligence Service.