London, November 10 (HNA) – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Group on Bribery (WGB) called Turkey to address long-standing key recommendations to fight foreign bribery, immediately.
“The OECD Working Group on Bribery is seriously concerned that Türkiye has failed to address outstanding deficiencies in key areas to fight foreign bribery since its Phase 3 evaluation in 2014” read the statement released by the OECD on Thursday.
“Türkiye’s continued inaction with respect to long-standing recommendations regarding legal persons’ liability for foreign bribery, whistleblower protection, and prosecutorial independence, as well as Türkiye’s lack of enforcement of its foreign bribery laws led the WGB to send a High-Level Mission in June 2021” read the statement, and added:
“These deficiencies had been repeatedly emphasised in Türkiye’s October 2014 Phase 3 evaluation report, the May 2017 two-year written follow-up report, and four additional reports between October 2017 and October 2019.”
On three separate occasions, Türkiye has advised the Working Group of forthcoming measures to ensure that state-owned enterprises can be held liable for foreign bribery and to protect whistleblowers in the private and public sectors, according to the OECD.
“While the Working Group on Bribery welcomed Türkiye’s reports that these topics would remain on the government’s agenda, it is seriously concerned that no concrete steps have been taken to date” the OECD WGB warned, adding that, the Working Group on Bribery “strongly encourages Türkiye to prioritize these proposed measures as a matter of urgency.”
The Working Group on Bribery invited Türkiye to report on progress to address all key outstanding Phase 3 recommendations in March 2023, at which time it may adopt additional measures.