OECD criticises Portugal over foreign corruption

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has criticised Portugal in the fight against overseas corruption.

It has urged the country to step up the application of international anti-corruption measures that came into force more than two decades ago.
“Since the OECD’s Anti-Corruption Convention came into force 20 years ago, Portugal has not made one single condemnation over overseas corruption. Detection rates continue to be low and the Portuguese authorities have prematurely closed cases of foreign bribery without investigating the relevant allegations in a thorough and proactive manner, with the number of cases closed increasing significantly in Phase 3”, concludes the OECD working party that has just completed the evaluation of Phase 4.
It also says that “Portugal has not addressed the long-standing concerns of the working group regarding legal frameworks and that “sanctions for overseas corruption against individuals or companies do not seem to be effective, proportional or dissuasive”.
The working group has therefore left various recommendations for Portugal including continuing with awareness campaigns and training on international corruption to all interested parties in both public and private sectors; evaluating the legal framework regarding the responsibilities of companies and applicable sanctions; improving overseas corruption detection mechanisms, among others.