Corruption continues to pose a significant challenge across Europe, according to a recent report from the European Commission. This found that corruption exists at some level in all Member States and costs the European economy around 120 billion euros per year.

Public Opinion on Corruption

The extent of the problem has not gone unnoticed amongst the general population.

A recent Eurobarometer survey on attitudes to corruption found that 76% of Europeans believe there is widespread corruption, and 56% believe that their country has seen an increase in the problem over the past three years. In addition, 8% of Europeans have apparently personally experienced or witnessed corruption first hand in the last twelve months.

Interestingly, the figures are much lower if you look at the UK in isolation. Only 64% of people in the UK think corruption is widespread, and 16% feel it personally affects them (EU average 26%). The report also found that the UK has the lowest proportion of respondents in the EU who report being asked or expected to pay a bribe in the last year (0%) or who know someone who has accepted a bribe (7%).

From a business point of view, 15% of companies reported finding corruption to be an issue when conducting business in the UK (EU average 43%) and 46% believe corruption is widespread (EU average 75%).

Less of a Problem in the UK, says Report

The Commission’s report includes a chapter dedicated to each EU Member State. In light of the public opinion figures given above, it is perhaps not surprising that with regards to the UK, the report concludes that “petty corruption does not appear to pose a challenge”.

It highlights the progress made in the UK in tackling bribery, particularly when conducting business abroad, and notes that the country continues to expect high ethical standards from those employed in public service.

The report also notes the wide variety of organisations in the UK that have a role in tackling corruption, many of which have overlapping competences – creating the need for close coordination. It gives special mention to the role of the new National Crime Agency, which has a specialist unit designed to deal with economic crimes such as fraud, bribery and corruption and plays an important coordinating role.

Tackling Bribery

According to the report, the UK’s Bribery Act 2010 is one of toughest sets of anti-bribery rules in the world.

It explains that the introduction of the Act followed concerns expressed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) about the absence of any UK foreign bribery prosecutions in the ten years following the ratification of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Once the Act was introduced, 23 foreign bribery cases were heard in the UK courts in one year.

The report also takes a positive view of the fact that the Bribery Act encourages whistleblowing, which is seen as an effective way of helping to prevent bribery.

Areas for Improvement

The Commission’s report contains a number of UK-specific recommendations on how to improve the way in which the country tackles corruption. These include:

• Putting additional preventive measures in place to tackle the foreign bribery risk, and creating sector-specific guidelines to help companies in sectors at increased risk, such as the defence industry.
• Tougher measures to increase accountability in bank governance.
• Imposing caps on donations that can be made to political parties, restricting spending on electoral campaigns and improving the monitoring of potential violations.

“Corruption undermines citizens’ confidence in democratic institutions and the rule of law, it hurts the European economy and deprives States from much-needed tax revenue,” commented Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs. “Member States have done a lot in recent years to fight corruption, but today’s Report shows that it is far from enough. The Report suggests what can be done, and I look forward to working with Member States to follow it up.”

Contact Lewis Nedas’ Criminal Lawyers in London

If you are facing a bribery or corruption investigation, or need specialist legal advice on bribery and corruption compliance, please contact our solicitors Jeffrey Lewis or Siobhain Egan on 020 7387 2032 or complete our online enquiry form here.