The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Working Group on Bribery has called on Turkey to urgently implement key reforms to boost the fight against foreign bribery, including preserving the independence of investigations and prosecutions.
“Turkey has not taken sufficient steps to address the OECD Working Group on Bribery’s concerns about its implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention or its very low level of enforcement of the foreign bribery offence,” the OECD said in its statement released on Tuesday.
According to the statement a High-Level Mission of the Working Group discussed these serious issues in virtual meetings on June 21-22 with representatives from Turkey’s relevant authorities.
The mission, led by the Working Group chairman, included delegates from Colombia, Germany, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden and the United States.
The OECD statement revealed that the Working Group has urged Turkey, since 2014, to ensure that foreign bribery is effectively investigated and prosecuted, including by protecting the independence of prosecutions, strengthening its legislation on the liability of legal persons for foreign bribery and implementing adequate protection for whistleblowers who report suspicions of foreign bribery.
In the meeting the members of the group emphasized the importance of enforcement and urged Turkey to proactively gather information from diverse sources to initiate investigations rather than relying solely on mutual legal assistance requests.
The Working Group on Bribery conducts a systematic program for monitoring implementation of the convention by all its parties.
