Clean and honest dealing is one of our key competitive advantages,” CJ Menon said. “Corruption compromises the predictability and openness which Singapore offers and investors have come to expect. This is a hard won prize achieved through our collective efforts as a society and we must not allow these to be undone. – The FCPA Blog
BU agrees with Prime Minister Freundel Stuart’s recent position that Barbadians have to be disciplined to achieve the goal of climbing back to economic prosperity. On the flipside we continue to observe Prime Minister Stuart’s unwillingness (inability) to exercise discipline when it comes to rolling out transparency legislation promised by his government. Clearly corrupt behaviour exist in Barbados and it explains why the legislation was proposed in the first place. Our inability to hold players in the system accountable means graft has taken deep root and has long become institutionalized.
A recent court decision handed down by the Chief Justice of Singapore’s Supreme Court Sundaresh Menon demonstrates why Singapore and Barbados are miles apart on any governance spectrum.
The chief justice of Singapore’s Supreme Court used a recent case to set out new sentencing guidelines for private bribery, especially when it involves services that have a strong nexus to the public welfare.
In PP v Syed Mostofa Romel [2015] SGHC 117 (avaliable here), Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon increased a convicted defendant’s jail term from two months to six months. The defendant was a ship inspector at Singapore’s terminal. He was convicted of soliciting bribes in exchange for lenient ship inspections.
-See more at: Singapore sentencing guidelines: At the intersection of public and private graft
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