Coming Clean About Bribery: The Self-Reporting Initiative

International Tubular Services (ITS), an Aberdeen-based engineering firm specialising in providing equipment to the North Sea oil sector, is the second company in Scotland that has avoided a corporate criminal prosecution under the Bribery Act 2010. ITS admitted to corrupt payments pursuant to the anti-bribery self-reporting initiative and received a civil fine of around £170,000 instead of facing criminal charges. The corrupt payments were made by an ITS employee to secure contracts in Kazakhstan and they came to light when ITS was acquired by the Parker Drilling Company last year.

The decision by ITS to self-report could be considered a shrewd move since the self-reporting deadline comes to an end on 30 June 2015, unless extended by the Lord Advocate. After this, companies that have failed to own up to past or present corrupt practices may face more severe penalties.