ALTHOUGH Canada has made progress in investigating
bribery of foreign public officials by Canadian companies, but Canada
has so far completed only one prosecution since
it enacted its foreign bribery law in 1999. A new report by the OECD
states that Canada’s
regime for enforcement of the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act
(CFPOA) remains problematic in important areas.
The OECD Working Group on Bribery has just completed a report on Canada’s
enforcement of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials
in International Business Transactions. Enforcement has recently increased, with
one company convicted in 2005 for violating the CFPOA, one ongoing prosecution
and over 20 active investigations, the report notes. Credit for these cases is
largely attributed to the RCMP International Anti-Corruption Unit, established
in 2008. The RCMP Unit has two teams – one in Ottawa, Canada’s capital,
and another in Calgary, Canada’s hub for the extractive industries.
The Unit is also commended for its substantial public outreach and awareness-raising
efforts.
Other main recommendations of the Group are as follows:
+ Amend the CFPOA so that it is clear that it applies to bribery
related to the conduct of all international business, not just business ‘for
profit’;
+ Ensure that sanctions applied in practice for CFPOA violations
are effective, proportionate and dissuasive;
+ Take such measures as may be necessary to prosecute Canadian
nationals for bribery of foreign public officials committed abroad; and
+ Clarify that police and prosecutors may not consider factors
such as the national economic interest and relations with a foreign State,
when deciding whether to investigate or prosecute allegations of foreign
bribery.
The Working Group commended Canada for codifying corporate liability in the
Criminal Code for CFPOA and other offences, as well as important initiatives
for increasing reporting of foreign bribery in the public and private sectors,
including enacting a Criminal Code offence of threatening or retaliating
against employees who report misconduct.
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