Govt working on private sector corruption law ….Aloke Tikku
NEW DELHI: In an attempt to bring the fight against bribery to the private sector, the home ministry is working on some tough amendments to the anti-corruption law.
The amendments, if passed, will be so tough that tipping the parking attendant in your office to get a better slot could leave you facing a jail sentence. It will make receiving a gift a crime, if it a court says it was in return for undue favours.
Offenders will be punished with a maximum jail term of 7 years.
According to the draft circulated to states, the amendment will criminalise a person offering or giving (as well as soliciting and receiving) an “undue advantage” to anyone to get the person to act in breach of his duties.
Though anti-corruption activists are welcoming of the proposals, lawyers are not so sure about its wide and loosely defined provisions, fearing it could be misused.
Criminal lawyer Puneet Mittal said the new definitions of private sector bribery were far too large in scope. “It leaves too much room for interpretation…and probably, could be used to start a probe against any commercial activity and harass people,” Mittal said.
NEW DELHI: India’s plans to make it a crime for private sector entities to seek or give bribes owes its origin to the 2005 UN convention on corruption, which brought the private sector under the gaze of anti-bribery efforts.
Government officials said the home ministry draft amendment circulated to states for their comments was largely inspired by the British version of the bribery law, regarded as one of the toughest in the world. The UK Bribery Act, however, deals with the private sector as well as the public one.
Anupama Jha, executive director at Transparency International-india (Ti-india), said it was a positive step to bring private businesses under the anticorruption law. “It is high time we focussed on the supply side of corruption as well… and punish those that pay bribes as well,” she said, pointing that the Central Vigilance Commission’s draft national anti-corruption strategy had also made this recommendation.
Ti-india had recently counted how the private sector was not a victim of corruption any longer, but was hand-in-glove with public officers.
The report had pointed to “collusive corruption”, where public servants join hands with the private sector, particularly in the power, mining and oil sectors. Team Anna member Manish Sisodia said he too was all for laws to criminalise private sector corruption.
But, at the same time, he suggested there should be safeguards to prevent harassment of the common man. “Governments have always been quick to frame tough laws for the common man, not people in authority,” he said.
Police officers, however, concede that the existing draft had a serious potential for misuse.
Source: Hindustan Times, Page No.: 1, Dated: May 17, 2012