LONDON (TrustLaw) – The oil and gas sector has faced more completed bribery and corruption prosecutions in the UK over the last four years than any other sector, according to a report by accounting giant Ernst & Young.
UK authorities have completed 26 corruption and bribery cases since 2008, five of them involving the oil and gas sector, Ernst & Young said.
“There is no suggestion that individuals or companies that operate in the sector are more corrupt, and in fact the corporate compliance structure evident in the world of oil and gas should be the envy of many others,” Jonathan Middup, UK head of Ernst & Young’s anti-bribery and corruption team said in a statement.
“The findings have more to do with the nature and location of operations specific to the sector. Many operations are developed in countries with higher levels of corruption, making global operations inherently risky,” Middup added.
“This has led to one fifth of cases being taken in oil and gas, most often involving payments made abroad or kickbacks to foreign government officials," Middup said.
While anti-bribery campaigners often focus on reducing the bribery of foreign government officials by Western corporations, the report said that four of the five corruption cases completed in 2012 concerned domestic, UK-based corruption. Also, of those four cases, three involved private sector bribery, the report said.
Other sectors facing the most prosecutions were medical goods, insurance, and engineering and construction - with three successful prosecutions each, the report said.
While the UK Bribery Act, the UK’s tough anti-bribery law, came into force on July 2011, only one of the 26 cases in the report was prosecuted under the law as most of the crimes took place before July 2011.
Only Munir Patel, a court officer in a London magistrates' court has been prosecuted under the Act. He pleaded guilty to accepting 500 pounds ($790) to "get rid" of speeding charges by keeping the details off a court database and was sentenced in November 2011 to nine years in prison.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
