Argentina needs to do more to fight foreign bribery, says OECD

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Group on Bribery has said it doubts Argentina’s commitment to fighting foreign bribery after completing a report on the country’s implementation of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related instruments.

Argentina still has no law to punish companies for foreign bribery or prosecute its citizens who commit this crime abroad. Widespread delays continue to plague complex economic crime investigations. The organisation says that urgent action is needed to address these grave concerns. As a result, the OECD will evaluate the country again at the end of 2016, while a high-level mission will also visit Argentina in early 2016.

The Working Group report made several recommendations to improve Argentina’s fight against foreign bribery. These included the implementation of a new Criminal Procedure Code; reduction in the high number of judicial vacancies and the use of surrogate judges; and investigations and prosecutions for foreign bribery cases as appropriate. The OECD also called for Argentina to encourage companies to adopt measures to prevent and detect foreign bribery and better protect whistleblowers from retaliation.