Companies have little faith in action on bribery

Half of big UK public companies and one-third of large companies across
Europe believe the authorities are too reluctant to prosecute bribery cases, a
newly released survey shows.

The findings of the ‘2008 European Corporate Integrity Survey’, by compliance
consultancy group
Integrity
Interactive, show concern over the issue of bribery by those responsible for
preventing corporate malpractice has increased by 14% on last year,
Accountancy Magazine reports.

The research also shows the sentences handed down are regarded too lenient
such as the two-and-a-half year sentence given to Fausto Tonna, ex-Parmalat CFO,
and the two-year suspended sentence to Loik Le Floch-Prigent, Elf chairman,
which were seen as too lenient by 67%.

Conversely, the 24 years given to Jeffery Skilling, ex-Enron CEO, and the 25
years to Bernard Ebbers, ex-WorldCom CEO, were considered too severe by 62% and
66%, respectively.

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