Justice Secretary does not expect many Bribery Act prosecutions

The Justice Secretary said he does not expect a large number of prosecutions to result from the Bribery Act and “certainly not for trivial cases”, after publishing the Ministry of Justice’s long-awaited guidance today (30 March).

Ken Clarke said cases would be brought where they are in the public interest. This will require the personal agreement of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Director of the Serious Fraud Office.

The Justice Secretary confirmed that the legislation would come into force on 1 July 2011.

It creates offences of offering or receiving a bribe, bribery of foreign public officials and failing to prevent a bribe being paid on an organisation’s behalf. However, the offence of failing to prevent a bribe being paid can be defended where the organisation can show it has “adequate procedures” in place.

In his written ministerial statement, the Justice Secretary said the guidance underlined that combating bribery was “about common sense, not bureaucracy”.

Clarke said: “No one is going to stop businesses getting to know their clients by taking them to events like Wimbledon, Twickenham or the Grand Prix. Reasonable hospitality to meet, network and improve relationships with customers is a normal part of business.”

He added that the procedures to be put in place to rely on the statutory defence “only have to be proportionate to the size and nature of the business”.

The guidance said that a risk-based approach would focus the effort where it is needed and will have the most impact.

Insisting that companies would be able to rely heavily on simply telling staff verbally about their anti-bribery policies, the Justice Secretary said: “Small companies ought not fear that they will suddenly need an army of lawyers in order to manage bribery risks.”

Clarke said: “The guidance does not and cannot change the substance of the Act. But by improving clarity about its intentions, it should arm organisations of all sizes against the fears that millions of pounds must be spent on procedures, that in my opinion, no honest business will require.”

The guidance can be downloaded here.