Police says new unit will not target construction specifically in bribery and corruption investigations
A senior police officer has denied that a new anti-corruption unit will be “witch hunt against construction.”
Detective chief superintendent Oliver Shaw said that contrary to other reports, the bribery and corruption unit “is not a witch hunt against the construction industry.”
He said that he had previously used an investigation into corrupt construction contracts as an example of the type of cases the unit would be looking at.
He said: “I can neither confirm or deny whether construction companies will be looked at. I cannot tell anyone which companies will be investigated.”
The City of London Police and Metropolitan Police has been awarded £870,000 a year for three years to set up a unit of 10 officers to investigate UK and overseas bribery and corruption cases.
The newly formed unit will be dedicated to complying with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s anti-corruption conventions.
Shaw said: “It would be useful if we could give construction companies guidance on negotiating contracts that do not fall foul of anti-corruption legislation.”
