TTTI secretary for corruption talks in Berlin

According to a statement from TTTI yesterday, the Committee’s findings could have grim implications for TT because this country has "close business relationships" with some of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member nations, named in the Committee’s October 27 report.

That report found that over 2,200 companies doing business under the programme were involved in paying US$1.8 billion in bribes and kickbacks to the regime of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

"TT has a direct interest in this matter because several OECD countries, among them Canada, Germany, Ireland, United Kingdom and the USA have close relationships with us," TTTI stated.

The group said the giver of the bribe is no less guilty than the receiver and "one cannot be fairly lenient with the former while condemning the latter."

In this regard, TTTI said it was expecting early and positive action by the OECD member nations in this matter of the corruption of Iraqi public officials.

The group said while the OECD adopted an anti-bribery convention in 1999, there still seemed to be a lot of work to be done where enforcement is concerned. Article One of the Convention enjoins each party "to take such measures as may be necessary to establish that it is a criminal offence under its law for any person intentionally" to take a bribe or offer or promise to bribe a foreign public official.

TTTI said the Volcker Committee’s report has shown that in addition to individual instances of corruption there appears to have been "the politicisation of the process."