Bribery Bill [HL]

I am most grateful to the noble Baroness. It is very difficult to say whether there has been an adequate number of prosecutions. My experience as a Member of Parliament is that you learn a lot of things via a side wind; people come and talk to you about all sorts of things. The point that I have been making is that the problem with prosecuting bribery and corruption has been not the law but the evidence. It would be one thing if the noble Baroness knew of lots of cases of bribery—I do not believe that she could—so that she could, if she wished, as I am sure she would, ask the prosecuting authorities why they were not doing something about it; but that is not, unfortunately, the case. My recollection of the bribery cases that came up is that they were planning cases in which a corrupt person in the planning department was known to be taking bribes from someone else and a sting was set up. Either they were caught in the act of handing over the money or some recording was made. The evidence was there, the case was prosecuted and a conviction was achieved. It is a matter of evidence rather than the law. If the noble Baroness can put her finger on the vague state of the law, as she puts it, I would be happy to know of the cases.