UK government backtracks over bribery

Bribery by UK companies operating abroad is being reduced by 'education rather than prosecution'
after the government said it would not strictly enforce laws introduced just two years ago. The
World Bank has estimated the annual global cost of corruption at more than $1500bn (£789bn),
although experts say it is hard to quantify. But Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, told diplomats
last year, in internal advice which has only now come to light, that business should be
'sensitised' to its responsibilities. He said the government would 'prefer to change behaviour by
education  rather than prosecution'.

Laws making it easier for British companies to be prosecuted in the UK for overseas corruption came
into force two  years ago, after the government came under pressure from the US, which has long had
a ban on corporate corruption in the developing world. Only a month  before the new UK laws came
into effect, Foreign Office staff were instructed to tell executives that 'bribery is bad for
business. The payment of bribes is  unacceptable.'

But there has yet to be a single prosecution under UK laws. Only four allegations have been
referred to the National Criminal  Intelligence Service, and only one is under active
investigation.