Melbourne Law School - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 1 of 1
-
ItemFirst world convention and third world corruption : the OECD convention on bribery in international commercial transactions and foreign subsidiary corporations in the Philippines( 2007)This thesis examines the application of the OECD Convention on Bribery in International Commercial Transactions (the Convention) to corrupt practices facilitated by foreign subsidiary corporations with particular focus on commercial contracts in the Philippines. The dynamics of bribe payments in two Philippine infrastructure contracts are studied in light of specific provisions of the Convention. The two case studies show that the corruption of Filipino government officials need not be directly carried out by foreign nationals nor by foreign international corporations. This is because the bribery may be facilitated by resident representatives of resident subsidiaries, or by resident representatives of domestic corporations. Also, a labyrinth of personal connections allows bribe proceeds to reach the intended Filipino public officials without the foreign corporation's officers necessarily having to meet officers of the parent corporation. The thesis finds that while the Convention's approach to addressing the problem of corruption internationally is unprecedented, its practical effectiveness is challenged by its ambivalent provisions on jurisdiction and elements of the offence. Further, unless local commitment to enforce and implement the Convention is strong,, currently entrenched business practices will be difficult to reform. The liberality accorded member countries to implement the provisions of the OECD Convention within the existing principles of their respective legal systems has resulted in diverse and variant implementing statutes such that the particular commission of the crime of bribery of a foreign public official may result in some liability in one jurisdiction, but not in another. The OECD Convention is the first of its kind in the international regime. It could have made a difference in curbing transnational corruption. But it did not and does not. END