Global Anti-Corruption Update January 2015 – What’s New?

December 2014 has seen the first three convictions brought by the Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") under the Bribery Act 2010, in the Sustainable Growth Group case, involving the fraudulent selling and promotion of investment products based on green biofuel. The three individuals were convicted, amongst other things, of bribing and receiving bribes and the sentences for the offences relating to bribery were significant, ranging from four to six years' imprisonment. Also in December 2014, the UK Government announced that it intended to set up a specialist police unit to tackle bribery and corruption.

With corruption increasingly hitting the headlines (think GlaxoSmithKline in China and Qatar's World Cup bid), in early December 2014, the OECD issued a new report on corruption, highlighting the scale of bribery worldwide. It finds that transportation is one of the four sectors most affected by the issue of bribery.