Long arm jurisdiction - are you subject to the law?, MENA (Middle East & North Africa), Offshore, Russia - Written by Barry & Richard on Tuesday, July 5, 2011 0:39 - 0 Comments
SFO singles out overseas corporates bribing in challenging markets
We have been saying this for some time.
We have spoken to Richard Alderman in relation to Russia and the difficulties he faces in bringing Russian organisations who violate Bribery laws to book.
Last week he underscored the SFO’s desire to prosecute overseas corruption which disadvantages UK PLC. He said:
“What we will be doing will be to look for the most difficult cases. That is our challenge and I believe it is a challenge that is supported by the community, whether business or social. The most difficult cases will be those involving companies (whether UK or foreign) operating in a range of challenging environments that want to continue to use corruption in order to undermine ethical companies. Our ethical companies want to see fair competition. They can compete on equal terms because of the quality of what they produce. They cannot though compete properly when there is corruption. They want me to do something about that and I certainly want to do that when the foreign companies are within our jurisdiction. [Our emphasis] This will be a high priority for the SFO and we should be actively looking for these cases”.
The SFO is undaunted by the significant evidential and potential legal challenges investigating and bringing cases against overseas corporates who violate bribery laws to the disadvantage of UK organisations.