OECD member-states have written to Britain criticizing London's failure to deal with corporate bribery, the Financial Times said Sunday. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development sent a team of anti-bribery experts to Britain in April to compile a report on London's corruption-fighting efforts, which is due to be completed in October. A spokeswoman for Britain's Department for Business confirmed that a letter had been received from the OECD, and said it “raises questions about developments since the April examination visit” but insisted that Britain was making good progress. Citing people familiar with the letter's contents, the FT said that the letter was approved by all of the 37 members of the OECD's anti-bribery group except Britain. The newspaper said that one person who had seen the letter described it as “particularly undiplomatic”, as it criticized Britain for failing to bring a single overseas corruption case to court, or update its anti-bribery laws. “The UK is totally committed to meeting international obligations and goes further than OECD Anti-Bribery Convention requirements in many area,” said the Department for Business spokeswoman. “On top of this, we will bring forward a draft Bribery Bill for parliamentary scrutiny in the next session, to reform and modernize our law.” The message suggests London can expect a tough time at the next meeting of the OECD anti-bribery group in October, where members could take the embarrassing and unprecedented step of pushing for Britain to be suspended. One person who has seen the letter said it was “particularly undiplomatic” and laid out the “full menu” of criticisms about Britain's performance on tackling bribery by its businesses and nationals overseas. The letter - signed on behalf of the anti-bribery group's members by Mark Pieth, its chairman - was sent days before Angel Gurr?a, OECD secretary-general, visited London in June, people familiar with its contents said. The letter attacked Britain over its failure to bring a single overseas bribery case or to deliver on a years-old pledge to update its anti-corruption laws. It also raised concerns that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) would downgrade its commitment to tackling corporate foreign bribery, because of plans for it to focus more on public education and consumer crimes such as share scams. The letter was approved by all the anti-bribery group's 37 members except Britain, people familiar with its contents said. Those members include the US, Japan and Europe's leading economies. Anti-corruption campaigners and lawyers say Britain has fallen behind other previously poorly-performing nations such as France and Germany, which have launched investigations into leading companies such as Siemens and Alstom, the engineering groups. The US has brought dozens of corruption cases over the past 30 years and companies under investigation include Halliburton, the oil services group formerly headed by Dick Cheney, the vice-president. The Department for Business said it would respond to the criticisms outlined in the letter ahead of the October meeting. The department added that the government planned to bring forward a draft bribery bill for scrutiny during the next parliamentary session. Richard Alderman, the director of the SFO, said dealing with corruption was a “priority” for the agency. He expected to publish proposals soon on how it could better deal with corruption, including by working with business more to prevent bribery from happening.
