OECD criticises State for lack of bribery law reforms

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has berated the State for failing to update laws to help an international effort to combat bribery of public officials in international business deals.

While Ireland signed up to the OECD anti-bribery convention in 2003, the State still needs to make substantial progress on key recommendations from the Paris-based organisation's working group on bribery, which have been issued three times in the past decade, the group said on Tuesday.

The OECD said that Ireland has failed to consolidate and harmonise two foreign bribery offences – in the Prevention of Corruption Act 2001 and the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud) Offences Act 2001 – which potentially contravene each other and carry different maximum prison sentences: 10 years and 5 years, respectively.

The State has also not acted on pressure to review laws which companies can use to avoid corporate criminal liability “where senior managers of companies use subordinate employees to bribe.”

Ireland continues to rely on the so-called common law “identification” principle, where only the acts of controllers of a company are treated as acts and state of mind of the firm itself. The OECD working group said this approach is “inadequate for the purpose of addressing many of the most frequent bribery methodologies”.

Money laundering

Thirdly, the OECD criticised Ireland for not acting on a recommendation to ensure that its money laundering offense in the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 applies to Irish companies and individuals that launder bribing proceeds, even if the country where the bribe takes place does not have laws against it.

“The working group’s recommendations are pressing, particularly considering that, since Ireland ratified the convention in 2003, has not prosecuted even one case of foreign bribery,” the group said.

The OECD group noted that Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald responded to letters sent by it by giving assurances that Ireland has a strong commitment to the convention and that legislative reform is advancing.

“The working group urges Ireland to ensure that relevant recommendations are fully implemented,” it said.