There has been considerable concern both at home and in the US about the justice secretary’s decision to delay the implementation of the much-awaited Bribery Act 2010
John Cooper QC believes the delay in implementing the Bribery Act sends out a dangerous message
There has been considerable concern both at home and in the US about the justice secretary’s decision to delay the implementation of the much-awaited Bribery Act 2010.
Suspicion of Britain’s commitment to clamping down on this aspect of corruption is deep rooted and can be at least be traced back to the Maxwell and Guinness Four trials, the latter being in 1990. The Act was a statement of intent by government that white collar crime would not be tolerated and was a palpable reassurance to foreign allies—in particular Europe and the US— that white collar corruption would be strenuously controlled.
In his foreword to Blackstone’s Guide to the Bribery Act 2010, Lord Woolf observed that “it was an immense relief for those who are concerned about this country’s reputation for probity that in the dying days of the last
