The UK Bribery Act

UK has passed a Bribery Act which will be implemented from 1^st July 2011. They had issued a detailed guidance in March. Some say that the legislation is draconian.

This Act will put additional pressure on some of the companies who are already grappling with corruption scandals. It will cover all Indian companies who do business in the UK. They will be exposed to potential criminal liability where bribes are paid by employees, agents and subsidiaries even if the relevant conduct happens in some other part of the world.

There are 4 new offences which will be introduced by this Act – offering, promising or giving of a bribe; requesting, agreeing to receive, or accepting a bribe; either in the UK or abroad, in public as well as private sectors; bribery of a foreign public official in order to obtain or retain business; and, inability of companies to prevent a bribe being paid by those who perform services for or on behalf of the organisation. [ Source: Economic Times]. 

All MNCs with offices in UK, Indian companies listed on UK exchanges, and independent director sitting on boards of such companies will all be under the purview of this Act.

Companies like Tata, Essar and Vedanta have significant presence in the UK and so they will have to review and implement anti-bribery policies and procedures.

You can find the ‘necessary steps that need to be taken’ in this article. It's a very well written and detailed article. 

US also have a US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. India has Prevention of Corruption Act. Woohoo! Well, not quite. India’s Act is not implemented properly. No wait, it’s almost not implemented. There are very few, if any, arrests and convictions. They monetary penalties are very negligible as compared to the size of the crime. Hence, it’s almost as if we have no law regarding it.

India, tera kya hoga?

Maybe this:

Pakistan Explains

Whistle Blowers Bill

Hello everyone,

I am taking part in a blogging competition organised by a website called Mightylaws.in. They have a prize for the post which gets the most number of facebook 'likes'. I want to win the prize and hence I am asking for help. 

Kindly go to the article. Scroll down. There is a box which says 'press the like button to vote for this post'. Just click on it.

That's it.

Here's the link   http://www.mightylaws.in/567/whistleblower-bill

It would be a great help if you could do it. 

If you really like the article then you can share this note with your friends. 

I can use all the help that I can get. 

Just let me know once you've voted. :) 

Thanks

Apoorv 

Keep Smiling. :) 

What does Osama's death mean to Me!

Well, to be very very straightforward, nothing.

Before anything, we have to start with an assumption that Osama Bin Laden is actually dead. It's a big thing to assume considering we have no evidence. All we have is Barack Obama's word for it. Now we know how reliable that is, don't we? :)

So we assume he is dead.

So what?

How does it change things around us?

I read a tweet by a journalist which said  something like this 'The joys of journalism. I thought it would be slow Monday but woke up to Osama's death.'  The media has found something they can go on and on about. Good for them.

It's a win for the fight against terrorism you say? Well, you killed just 20 odd people. Some of them innocent. That'll solve everything now, won't it?

Osama was not even the operational head of the Al Qaeda. He was just a name which people had learnt because it was easy to pronounce for people of all accents. How many people can  say Mahmood Ahmadinejad? He's the President of Iran and was in the eye of the storm till very recently. I am telling you, its all in the name.

Indian government is very happy now. They said that now they can put even more pressure on Pakistan. Pakistan was under pressure? From India? Are you sure you are not talking about the World Cup 2011 Semi-final?

Obama is happy. He'll be re-elected. All his speeches will now end with the line, '...we killed Osama Bin Laden.' and the votes will keep tumbling in, just like the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.

Get ready for a lot of Osama jokes from people. This one's going to last a month atleast.

On a more serious note:

Just killing one terrorist isn't enough. It's just a start. We have to continue our anti-terrorist activities. Terrorists are not limited to Al Qaeda. Although, the US government will want you to believe otherwise.

So well, basically, its the same old world for people like me. We live. Just like the pre-osam-ic times.

Facebook Page.

Cheers