Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 2 of the communique of the Anti-Corruption Summit in London in May 2016, what progress has been made on uncovering corruption wherever it exists and pursuing and punishing those who perpetrate, facilitate or are complicit in it.

The United Kingdom’s law enforcement response to corruption is robust, and the UK has been recognised by Transparency International (TI) as one of only four active enforcers of the OECD anti-bribery convention. Since the Summit, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured two corruption-related Deferred Prosecution Agreements, including against Rolls Royce. The SFO has also secured convictions of individuals on bribery and corruption charges, and has opened a number of other criminal investigations, with five trials due to be held in the next twelve months.

In parallel, the National Crime Agency (NCA) continues to pursue numerous investigations into the most serious allegations of international bribery, corruption, financial sanctions evasion and associated money laundering offences. At the Summit, the NCA also committed to establishing a new International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre based in London, with the intention of it being operational by April 2017. The Centre will bring together specialist law enforcement officers from multiple foreign jurisdictions into a single location to tackle allegations of grand corruption.