Minister defends controls

A minister yesterday rejected criticism that the government had watered down controls on the payment of bribes by British companies.

Douglas Alexander, the trade minister, claimed that Britain remained one of the leading governments around the world in imposing measures to prevent corporate corruption.

He was being questioned by the House of Commons trade and industry select committees on claims that his department buckled under heavy lobbying by Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and plane manufacturer, Airbus, and allowed the curbs to be weakened.

The rules are designed to stop British companies paying bribes to foreign politicians and officials to win contracts abroad.

Committee chairman Martin O'Neill said these companies - supported by the employers' body, the CBI - had compiled a "shopping list" of 17 demands to dilute the controls. He wanted to know if the companies "went away empty-handed?"

Mr Alexander replied that in negotiations with the companies, the government's "unyielding" objective had been to maintain the principle of tough controls, but not to overload industry with red tape. "The principle was not up for discussion," he said.

Campaigners have alleged that, following the lobbying, the government had rewritten the intricate wording of the controls, which significantly weakened them.

Mr O'Neill asked if the government "had denied itself the means to apply the principle. Isn't that just posturing?"

Mr Alexander said the government did not accept that.

The government has been forced to hold a public consultation into the revised wording of the controls following a court case which was brought by an anti-corruption campaign, the Corner House.