ABSTRACT
Prior to the Bribery Act, British anti-corruption1 enforcement was based on a mixture of statute and common law, differentiating between the private and public sectors and supported by a raft of other legislation relating to fraud and Companies Act violations. The main problem, so the prosecutors said, was that the laws, as they stood, made it difficult for them to convict companies whose representatives paid bribes, unless responsibility could be pinned to a ‘directing mind’. The Bribery Act 2010 overcomes this problem with the draconian Section 7 corporate offence, which comes into play simply if any associated person – no matter how junior – is or would be guilty of an offence.
