Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what policies UK Export Finance has developed for investigating transactions involving foreign bribery which cannot be investigated by law enforcement authorities.

Greg Hands

UK Export Finance takes issues of bribery extremely seriously. It takes precautions, including by making reasonable enquiries, to avoid financial loss by becoming involved in transactions that may be tainted by corruption.

Before providing support, it carries out anti-bribery due diligence in line with the 2006 OECD Bribery Recommendation. This informs how export credit agencies such as UK Export Finance should undertake anti-bribery due diligence.

UK Export Finance does not have investigatory powers, but will not grant its support until it has satisfied itself from the information it has available that exports are not tainted by bribery or corruption. Where UK Export Finance suspects foreign bribery it reports it to the Serious Fraud Office.