Bill to tackle bribery by foreigners, pvt sector….Swaraj Thapa , Ravish Tiwari
Cornered by the Opposition on corruption and black money, the UPA will bring foreign public officials under the ambit of a law that will make “accepting and giving gratifications” by them a criminal offence. It has also decided to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to make “private sector bribery” a criminal offence.
While the IPC amendments will be formulated by the Home Ministry, the Cabinet today is learnt to have approved the introduction of The Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organisations Bill, 2011 (also called the Foreign Bribery Bill) in Parliament soon.
The Cabinet proposal has suggested modifying the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, by replacing “any offences punishable under this Act” with “any offence punishable under this Act and The Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organisations Act.”
The proposal, moved by the Department of Personnel and Training, was approved by the Cabinet that met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the capital today.
According to the proposal, the government will deposit the instrument of ratification of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) after the introduction of the Foreign Bribery Bill in Parliament.
“Ratification of UNCAC will strengthen the message that the Government is committed towards moving towards the objective of ‘zero tolerance towards corruption’,” said the Cabinet note signed by Alok Kumar, Joint Secretary (Vigilance) in the DoPT.
The Opposition BJP questioned the government’s motive against not ratifying UNCAC that was signed by India in December 2005. India had not ratified it given that its domestic laws did not cover provisions under Article 16 of UNCAC that criminalise the act of bribing by and of foreign public officials. The introduction of the new Bill will pave the way for ratification.
According to the Cabinet note, the Foreign Bribery Bill covers both “demand side and supply side of the bribery” in Sections 3 and 4 of the proposed Bill. Section 3 of the proposed bill seeks to declare “undue advantage” by foreign public officials a “criminal offence” and Section 4 seeks to declare “promise to offer undue advantage” a “criminal offence”. In fact, even “abetment” of these offences would be a criminal offence under the proposed Bill.
Consequently, the proposed Bill seeks to provide for “uniform punishment up to seven years” along with fine for these offences under the Act. Section 7 makes criminal offences under it to be “extraditable”.