31 March 2006
The government came under pressure this week to crack down on UK's companies' tacit support of corruption and money-laundering in poor African countries.
A report by the Africa All Party Parliamentary Group, The other side of the coin: the UK and corruption in Africa, estimates that £85bn is siphoned out of Africa each year in illicit proceeds.
'Much of the money is banked in Britain or our overseas territories and dependencies, and sometimes British citizens or companies are involved in corrupt deals,' said group chair Hugh Bayley MP.
'We want our government to get tough on corruption, bring a tough new anti-corruption Bill to Parliament and bring the culprits to court.'
The group's report follows news earlier this month that the Serious Fraud Office is working with the Kenyan anti-corruption authorities in their enquiries about £200m worth of defence-related contracts with British companies. The Kenyans are concerned that some of the contracts might have been bogus.
Talking at the Overseas Development Institute on March 24, the exiled former Kenyan anti-corruption czar John Githongo said that corruption was so rife in some African countries that private companies viewed bribes 'simply as another tax'.
He said: 'The private sector isn't concerned about the existence of corruption, only its consistency. They only start complaining that a country is “corrupt” when it becomes unpredictable… when they feel they haven't been treated the same as a competitor.'
But Githongo warned that attempts to stop aid to corrupt countries would hurt the poor. Aid agencies such as the Department for International Development should have a 'direction of travel' rather than a 'zero tolerance' approach.
PFmar2006
