Review of bribes Act ordered by No 10

Downing Street has ordered a review of new anti-bribery laws amid fears they could damage economic growth.

The Standard has highlighted concerns by business chiefs who will have to introduce burdensome anti-corruption systems to protect themselves against bribe charges.

Just weeks before the Bribery Act is due to come into force, David Cameron's office stepped in after warnings by business chiefs that bosses could end up in court after unwittingly committing an offence.

The legislation, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, may now go before a "star chamber" chaired by Chancellor George Osborne and Business Secretary Vince Cable.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has been urged to intervene to stop British firms being hit by the anti-corruption regime, which experts say will be the toughest in the world.

Today lawyers for Formula 1's Team Lotus warned that sponsors could walk away because of fears of unfairly being caught by the act. It creates two general offences of bribery, a specific offence of bribery of a foreign public official and an offence of failure by a company to prevent a bribe being paid for or on its behalf.

A No10 spokesman said: "It is being looked at in the context of the growth review [into burdens on businesses]."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in