OECD Anti Corruption Unit

The goodwill that accompanied the 1997 Convention on Bribery not last endlessly. The perception that countries are not fulfilling their obligations under the agreements will inevitably undermine the agreement and lead to the erosion of public confidence. Regain the momentum and excitement of this initial achievement go far to ensure that it is still not the end of the honeymoon.

The international debate on good governance and best practices can work to the best mechanism to investigate political and corporate corruption.

There are many areas still in need of reform. The OECD convention, which has been so effective in many respects, left gaps. The need to stop companies using political donations to bribe foreign officials must be outlawed.

Some countries have to reform its laws to extraterritorial offenses are included and extradition is made easier.

Several international institutions have a long way to go. The World Bank and the European Union badly needs to implement further reforms to prevent bribery and corruption in the programs they fund.

In a broader agenda that research must be done in the way of defense contracts with foreign countries are given. The U.S., Germany, France and Britain are among the biggest sellers of weapons in the world. They are extremely competitive. As these contracts usually involve an element of participation of national governments are even more secret than normal contracts. However, the evidence we have indicates that there is still excess commissions (bribes) paid by these agreements.

Cornerhouse Group rightly say that there is an urgent need to shift the focus of the measures against corruption. In trying to explain corruption, most commentators tend to live in developing countries, not industrialized, the bribed not bribes. The intimate connection between corruption in the South and the organizational culture, bureaucratic practices and priorities of public and private institutions in the North is thus effectively hidden

Some activists suggest that the best deterrent for companies that have a propensity to bribery and corruption would be an international blacklist. blacklist current World Bank is a start, but it is really only a few very small fish. A black list the names and shames the great players, but more importantly their ability to get international contracts would be a bold statement? a milestone in the fight against bribery and corruption.

Other activists believe that the blacklists are often counterproductive. But the real deterrent to those who continue to bribe and corrupt is a real fear of detection and incarceration. The only way that the momentum of the movement against corruption to it by the installation of arduous investigation and prosecution authorities. Many countries in Western Europe and North America have not shown they are willing to prosecute offenders. International conventions have a regulatory effect of the muscle, but that is where real and die.