OECD calls on Czechs to do more against bribery

PRAGUE, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Thursday rebuked the Czech Republic for failing to take strong measures to combat bribery of foreign public officials in international transactions.

"The Czech Republic needs to establish liability against legal persons for foreign bribery without delay and put in place sanctions that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive," an OECD statement issued on Thursday said.

The statement coincides with the publishing of a report by the Working Group on Bribery that reviewed the Czech Republic's enforcement of the OECD's Convention on Combating the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Transactions.

As with many post-Communist European nations, the Czechs have been battling corruption that was rampant during and just after the fall of the authoritarian regime in 1989.

According to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2006, published by the corruption watchdog Transparency International, the Czechs were 46th least corrupt on a list of 163 countries.

The main recommendations of the OECD report say the Czechs should raise the profile of foreign bribery in anti-corruption efforts, and target Czech individuals and companies that operate internationally, as well as entities involved in official development assistance, taxation, accounting and auditing.

It adds the Czechs should consider adopting additional measures to strengthen protection for whistleblowers to encourage people to report corruption.

"The review had unfortunately been delayed because the Czech Republic postponed an on-site visit to Prague originally scheduled for October 2005," the statement said.

"The visit was eventually rescheduled for May 2006, but the postponement nonetheless raised doubts at the time about the Czech Republic's commitment to implement the Convention."

((Reporting by Alan Crosby; prague.newsroom@reuters.com; Editing by Gerrard Raven; Reuters Messaging: alan.crosby.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420 224 190 477))

Keywords: ECONOMY CZECH OECD