THE introduction of the United Kingdom (UK) Bribery Act 2004 (the 'Act') has become an impediment for foreign investors seeking to tap the opportunities in Nigeria. This is because the Act states that any foreign company, which does any 'part of its business' in the United Kingdom will be prosecuted under the Act for failing to prevent bribery committed by any of its employees, agents or other representatives, even if the bribery takes place outside the UK and involves non-UK persons.Usually, multinationals wanting to invest in Nigeria are often made to pay facilitation fees to government officials. The act considers such facilitations as bribe.When convicted under the act, the reputational consequences and effect of winning future works can even be more severe than the penalties imposed by the courts.International businesses, therefore, face a real risk of prosecution under the Act sequel to the announcement by the UK Serious Fraud Office, which is making foreign companies committing bribery a 'high priority' target.In this encounter in Lagos, Ian Hargreaves, head of Addleshaw Goddard's Financial Regulatory and Corporate Crime team, one of the biggest law firms in London, gave a broader perspective of the UK Bribery Act and its implication for multinational businesses in Nigeria who are not fully compliant with the law and other legislations against corruption.Assuring that the main focus of the SFO in coming years would be on the prosecution of international companies, he said: 'The challenge businesses face under the Bribery Act is two-fold,''The legislation outlaws not only bribery in the ordinary sense, but facilitation payments that are often a routine requirement for doing business in certain jurisdictions. The Act also makes companies liable for bribery that is committed on their behalf, even by third parties overseas.'However, if businesses put in place adequate procedures to prevent bribery, they may avoid liability under the Act if a rogue employee or agent commits a crime unknown to them and despite the safeguards in place.'Organisations and international firms, therefore, need to prevent corruption and also have in place proactive measures, which willminimise their exposure to graft and hefty penalties,' he added.When asked why securing convictions in many money laundering issues are difficult in Nigeria, Hargreaves said although, he was not qualified to comment on how Nigerian courts could deal with issues, the understanding was that when large scale bribes were paid, that money was not going to stay within Nigeria, it was going to other jurisdictions and the authorities there would be working on the recovery of the bribes.' The authorities work to recover money paid by other nationals in other countries, which had been laundered in UK Banks or other countries such as Germany and if someone is not being prosecuted in Nigeria, it does not mean that he is not going to be prosecuted in other countries or jurisdictions.'On what Nigeria could benefit from knowledge of the UK Bribery Act, Hargreaves, who has been involved in a diverse range of commercial litigation / dispute resolution including warranty claims, contractual disputes, insolvency matters, numerous mediations, said: 'it is important because many companies who are compliant with the UK bribery Act, will only do business with companies that are non-compliant.According to him, such multi-nationals see it as being economic and a financial advantage for them.'Multinational companies who are looking for investment opportunities will insist before they invest, that they have to be compliant with the bribery codes and legislation because if they get it wrong, the UK or US authorities will come after them and they could pay incredible fines and that will be extremely expensive', he said.Hargreaves, who leads Addleshaw Goddard's Fraud, Regulatory and Corporate Crime (FRCC) team and specialises in civil fraud and asset tracing, said countries perceived to have high corruption levels were highly likely to be targeted for prosecutions.According to the Money Laundering Reporting Officer for Addleshaw Goddard, 'the firm is looking forward to working more closely with Nigerian law firms.On why the law firm recently organized a seminar on the Act in Nigeria and Ghana, he said the seminar was intended to create awareness on the effect of the UK Bribery Act on Ghana & Nigeria and how it may affect businesses, since a lot of Nigeria businesses abroad are yet to be abreast with the UK Bribery Act and its effect on their businesses.'To help international companies prevent corruption, Addleshaw Goddard and Guidepost Solutions developed a unique Legal practitioners, entrepreneurs, international trade and business executives in WestAfrica, who now have an opportunity to appraise the implications of the UK Bribery Act.'This is a novel approach to dealing with the Act and we are excited about discussing the opportunity it creates with West African businesses and law firms alike,' he said.He also said the law firm decided to take advantage of the massive growth in Africa and the great potentials of business in Nigeria andGhana since there used to be a very strong relationship between UK, Nigerian and Ghana.On the impact of the UK Bribery Act on Nigerian businesses, Hargreaves said 'the Act relates to any contractual and commercial issues, involving bribery within the contract and within the award of contracts.'According to him, it does not only involve institutions, or government officials, but also two independent and private companies doing business, where there may be a bribe involved.The UK bribery acts negate facilitation payments and see it as bribes, these payments are endemic in many countries.The enactment of the UK Bribery Act 2010 by the British authorities in July 2011 has heightened the reputation and prosecution risk for companies from Africa and other parts of the world doing business with UK companies.'The international community needs to respond to the Act and ensure they have the right procedures in place to detect and eradicate corruption.Under the Act, a foreign company, which carries on any 'part of a business' in the UK, can be prosecuted for failing to prevent bribery committed by any of its employees, agents or other representatives, even if the bribery takes place outside the UK and involves non-UK persons.On whether the Act deals with banks that facilitate money laundering, the legal expert said legislation against money laundering and UK Bribery Acts always go hand -in -hand and involves criminal bribery conduct.' It involves being compliant with bribery, requirement with regulatory laws for example, ' Know your Customer and Customer's due diligence.'Banks have been criticized for failing to do that and that has made money to be laundered through UK banks. It is a big issue but they do work hand -in -hand with money laundering legislation and bribery Acts legislations.'He also said that they would be collaborating with Nigerian firms by educating them on the UK Bribery Act, to get the message to Nigeria/Ghana businesses.'Addleshaw Goddard LLP has teamed up with a global risk and security company called Guidepost Solutions Limited to provide practical corporate solutions for bribery and corruption issues,' he stated.
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