Government plans to bring companies under Corruption Act, but court to have last say

KOLKATA: Commercial organisations like banks and private companies may get away from being under the purview the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2013, if they prove that they have systems in place to prevent corruption, a Parliamentary Standing Committee member said.

Otherwise, they will be covered under the proposed Bill.

""Only the court of law can decide whether an organisation has the system in place,"" said Shantaram Naik, chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievance, Law and Justice.

Naik said that private companies would also be liable under the law, once passed by the lawmakers. Commercial establishments are not liable under the existing Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. The Bill seeks to amend this Act and may be tabled in the next session of the Parliament which will begin on February 5.

Naik, who was in Kolkata as part of an official tour of the Committee, said people offering bribe are sought to be punished under the Bill unlike in the 1988 Act which only has the provision to punish bribe takers.

The amendment to the existing act was proposed to honour India's obligation under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which has been ratified by the country in May 2011.