PM Says Failure to Stop Bribery will be Punished

Supply-Side Offence Prevention of Corruption Act to be amended to include bribe givers

    Senior executives of a company could find themselves facing criminal charges for failing to prevent bribery as the government proposes to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act to make such failures an offence. 
"Experience has also shown that bigticket corruption is mostly related to operations by large commercial entities. It is, therefore, also proposed to include corporate failure to prevent bribery as a new offence on the supply side," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a gathering of police officers from CBI and state-level anticorruption bureaus. 
At the same time, the prime minister deplored what he described as the "mindless atmosphere of negativity and pessimism that is sought to be created over the issue of corruption", and stressed that investigative agencies needed to distinguish between genuine mistakes and acts of malfeasance. 
"We are also examining how the Act can be amended to protect honest public servants more effectively… We need to ensure that even while the corrupt are relentlessly pursued and brought to book, the innocent are not harassed. The importance of making a distinction between bona fide mistakes and colourable exercise of power in investigation of corruption cases cannot be over-emphasised," Singh said. 
"I share the view of the prime minister, some people in industry may not. The corporate should also be made responsible where a top official of the company gives bribe to get undue benefits. However, small bribes by individuals to get their work done, which are legitimate (driving licence, birth certificate, death certificate), may not be… there only takers should be punished, so that the anti-corruption agencies will be able to focus on big cases," said Rahul Bajaj, chairman of Bajaj Auto. PM Should Walk the Talk, Says Oppn 
The Prime Minister's statement on tackling corruption comes even as the Congress party is battling hard to douse fresh attacks against Robert Vadra, Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, who is accused of having used his family connections to amass wealth by investing in the real estate sector. The second term of the Congress-led UPA government has been blighted by allegations of corruption in a number of sectors, notably telecom and mining. 
Predictably, Singh's statement was criticised by Opposition parties and anti-corruption campaigners. 
"The Prime Minister needs to walk the talk first. Such speeches sound hollow as they are not matched by action. The government has not acted in most of the scams that have come out in the open over the last few months. A chargesheet is yet to be filed against Kalmadi (accused of improperly awarding contracts during Commonwealth Games) despite an assurance by the Prime Minister on the floor of the Rajya Sabha," said BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Ravi Shankar Prasad. 
Santosh Hedge, a retired Supreme Court judge who was part of the nowdissolved "Team Anna", said there were enough laws to prosecute bribe-givers. "The Prime Minister's speech has to be seen in the context and the timing of the current developments," he said. 
Talking about the need to expand the scope of the law, Singh said "…a clear and unambiguous definition for the term 'corruption', covering both the supply and demand sides, is being sought to be provided. Experience has shown that in a vast majority of cases, it is difficult to tackle consensual bribery and the bribe-giver goes scot free by taking recourse to the provisions of the Act." 
This would be taken care of in the proposed amendments, the Prime Minister said, that would also seek "to protect honest public servants more effectively". 
While the economic reforms initiated in the early 1990s reduced many of the old forms of corruption, associated with controls and the licence permit raj, faster economic growth led to newer opportunities for corruption, ones associated with specialisation and expansion of our economy, Singh said. 
"We need a comprehensive look at our anti-corruption laws in the light of whatever is happening. It should not be piecemeal. We should look at both the supply and demand and simultaneously also look at streamlining processes and introducing technologies so scope for discretionary decisions are reduced," said S Gopalakrishnan, executive cochairman, Infosys.