 | | 14/10/2022: With big exports comes big responsibility |
|
| | This week, we’re keeping up the pressure on corruption across borders – and seeing some results. |  | | Illustration: Andrea Settimo © Transparency International | On Wednesday, the Swiss government finally announced plans to establish a central beneficial ownership register to track who actually owns companies registered in the country.
Our chapter in Switzerland is pleased that the country is now gearing up to align its rules with the global standard. Until that happens, Swiss entities’ involvement in international corruption or money laundering scandals should not come as a surprise, says Transparency International Switzerland’s director Martin Hilti.
But they are also urging the government not to stop halfway. The Swiss government can take this reform a step further by following Transparency International Switzerland’s call to make the new register public.
Secret ownership of companies is a serious obstacle to the prevention, detection and investigation of corrupt transactions, including laundering the proceeds of foreign bribery. Public access to central registers makes them more useful and accurate by enabling investigators to act more speedily and allowing watchdog organisations to monitor the information.
That is why a public beneficial ownership register was among our Swiss chapter’s top recommendations for our new report, Exporting Corruption 2022, also released this week. The study looks at how well major exporting countries are meeting their commitments under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention, which turns 25 this year.
We found that Switzerland – along with the United States – actively enforced the convention and performed well compared to other countries. However, despite some breakthroughs in recent notorious cases, our chapter emphasises that Switzerland’s contribution to the global fight against corruption and money laundering is still inadequate. |  | | Illustration: Andrea Settimo © Transparency International | The overall picture is concerning. This is the worst that top trading countries have performed on foreign bribery enforcement since we started assessing them in 2009.
The United Kingdom has declined from being a top enforcer for the first time. Our chapter is calling on the government to ensure that the agency charged with investigating serious corruption has adequate resources and powers to prosecute complex foreign bribery cases.
Brazil, which is eyeing OECD membership, has suffered major anti-corruption setbacks in recent times and dropped from being a moderate to a limited enforcer against foreign bribery.
Alarmingly, countries responsible for almost 40 per cent of the world’s exports take little or no action against their companies bribing foreign officials. In Russia – which falls into this category – our colleagues are filing a criminal complaint in a 10-year-old case involving the Uzbek operations of two telecom companies. Despite enforcement in other countries, Russian authorities have taken no action against these perpetrators to date.
The global fight against corruption depends on countries following the international rules they have agreed to. The OECD working group on bribery met this week and has seen our report – we hope they are ready for a serious reflection on how to improve the situation. | | | What do you think? Let us know @anticorruption. |
|
|
Comments
Post a Comment