A new United Kingdom (UK) Bribery Act comes into force on the 1st of July this year as the UK works to check the cases of bribery within the corporate environment. The law gives UK courts extra-territorial jurisdiction to deal with bribe givers and takers both in public and private sectors outside that country. You may fall foul not because you gave or promised or accepted a bribe, but because you failed to prevent it. People who fall foul of the law will then suffer about ten years in jail, pay a hefty fine, lose their properties and be blacklisted so they cannot get a contract from a UK company or do business in that country. Lawyer Ace Ankomah and others from the UK have been doing some education on the new law. Speaking to Joy FM’s Samson Laadi Ayenini after one such programme, Ace Ankomah called on lawmakers in the country to begin to navigate towards making laws that will be in consonance with the new UK law if the state is serious about checking bribery and corruption in the country. Mr. Ankomah said the new law means that UK firms would request for an anti bribery policy before doing business with any company in the country. Explaining further, he said such companies will carry out extensive background checks into its Ghanaian counterparts before any business transaction can take place. Source: Joy News/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana