- May 14, 2007
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I don't get how we are clearly in the wrong.
If I asked you to find someone for me and you took it upon yourself to this through hacking into bank records etc. It wouldn't be my fault. So by the same token if we have asked an accountancy firm to look into the accounts of West Ham and it's directors, we are not the ones accountable for how they go about it. This is nothing like the News of the World scandal, where the company themselves undertook those actions.
You can get away with that argument, a company cannot.
The Bribery Act came into effect this year and companies are responsible for ensuring adequate procedures are in place to prevent corrupt practices within their ranks or by third parties acting on their behalf.
Whilst the act only became effective from July this year, an individual was convicted today under the act and was sentenced to spend up to six years in prison, for "crimes" that spanned before the act became effective.
Companies face unlimited fines for breaches of the act and directors could get prison sentences.