United Kingdom
Did you know?
The United Kingdom’s ECA, the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD), has been known as a sponsor of projects rampant with corruption and corporate cover-ups — such as the Bonny Island LNG project, the BTC pipeline, and India's Dabhol project. In 2004 it slackened its anti-corruption standards under corporate pressure, leading anti-corruption campaigners to file suit against it.
"It is imperative that the UK ECGD moves beyond its Business Principles and adopts working practices that deter and detect bribery and corruption."
- Kirstine Drew,"Combating Corruption: Recommendations to the UK Export Credit Guarantee Agency By Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU)," May 23, 2002
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Photo Credit: Rising Tide (BTC Protest, London, August 28, 2003)
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Important Background Documents:
See the ECA Watch Corruption Page - for summaries on the Bonny Island LNG Project and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project
See the ECA Watch BTC Pipeline Page
ECGD Projects Summary
The ECGD has been under constant pressure from multiple NGOs and the OECD to reform their anti-corruption policies due to their tendency to support projects marked by corrupt deals. Many projects supported by the ECGD involve arms trade, deals which are not subject to the same environmental standards as other transactions. The most recent revision of the anti-corruption policies is still met with criticism from the OECD and ECA Watch campaign participant The Corner House. The Corner House summarizes the problems with the policies in their report which analyzes The UK Parliament's Trade and Industry Committee Inquiry into the Export Credits Guarantee Department.
- The introduction of a weak definition of 'to the best of our knowledge and belief' undermines the effectiveness of the ECGD's anti-bribery declarations and warranties.
- The exclusion of Joint Venture partners, parent companies and non-controlled subsidiaries from the November anti-bribery declarations and warranties reopens a loophole that ECGD closed in May.
- The reduced disclosure requirements on agents' commission significantly hamper the ECGD's ability to detect and prevent bribery on projects it supports.
- The reduction in scope of the ECGD's audit rights means that ECGD will unable to monitor compliance with its anti-bribery declarations and warranties in any meaningful way.
The projects sponsored by the ECGD most known for their corruption are the Bonny Island LNG plant in Nigeria and the BTC pipeline, which traverses Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), the British subsidiary of Halliburton, is accused of offering an almost $180 million bribe to Nigerian officials to secure a share in the construction of the Bonny Island LNG plant. The ECGD did little to investigate whether the allegations of bribery were true. Now the ECGD has provided Halliburton with another guarantee for an oil deal in Kazakhstan, despite its being at the center of a bribery scandal. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, under construction by British Petroleum (BP), is a project criticized for corrupt business deals, as well as violation of the human rights of the local people. BP awarded a contract to the Canadian firm, Speciality Polymer Coatings, to provide the pipeline with an anti-corrosion coating which has never been used on such a project and has proven to be incompatible with the material of the pipeline itself. Before this information became public knowledge, BP had the intention of burying the pipeline even though much of the sealant was cracked. Several other problems with construction of the pipeline involve breach of agreements with local people, especially in regards to land acquisition. Ferhat Kaya a leader of villagers who are affected by the pipeline was detained and tortured by the police. The problems with these projects highlight the fact that the ECGD needs to develop stricter policies regarding investigation of corruption in their sponsored corporations.
The ECGD and Corruption
ECGD reintroduces improved anti-corruption procedures, some loopholes remain but changes are welcome Cornerhouse, March 29, 2006
Cornerhouse protests ECGD delays in changes to anti-bribery measures February 1, 2006, Dorset
"Still serious loopholes in ECGD's anti-corruption procedures" October 21, 2005, The Corner House
United Kingdom: Phase 2 - Report on the Application of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and the 1997 Recommendation on Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions March 17, 2005 by the Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions of the OECD.
Backgrounder to the OECD Evaluation of the UK's Record on Combating Bribery March 2005 by Dr. Susan Hawley for the Corner House.
Memorandum from The Corner House: The UK Parliament's Trade and Industry Committee Inquiry into the Export Credits Guarantee Department February 2005 by Dr. Susan Hawley for the Corner House - a statement on the ECGD's revised anti-corruption measures.
Corner House Double Victory on UK Government Department's Anti-Bribery Rules and Public Interest Litigation January 25, 2005 by the Corner House.
Underwriting Bribery: Export Credit Agencies and Corruption December 2003 by Dr. Susan Hawley for the Corner House.
Turning a Blind Eye: Corruption and the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department [PDF] / HTML version June 2003 by Dr. Susan Hawley for the Corner House; report containing an overview of ECAs and corruption and a case study of the UK's Export Credit Guaranee Department.
Still Underwriting Corruption? The ECGD’s Recent Record 2002 by Susan Hawley for the Corner House, published for the UK Seminar on Export Credit Agency Reform - "Beyond Business Principles" House of Commons, May 23, 2002.
Combating Corruption - Recommendations to the UK Export Credit Guarantee Agency 2002 by Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), Kirstine Drew, UNICORN - A Global Unions Anti-corruption Network, published for the UK Seminar on Export Credit Agency Reform - "Beyond Business Principles" House of Commons, May 23, 2002.
Call for full disclosure of revenues to all national governments by transnational natural resource companies and related national subsidiaries and business partners
2002 by Global Witness, published for the UK Seminar on Export Credit Agency Reform - "Beyond Business Principles" House of Commons, May 23, 2002.
News 2005:
 BTC Pipeline Update: News reports find BTC unsafe, What's New, June 2005
Fifty campaign groups protest World Bank failures on BP oil Pipeline, April 29, 2005 (Kurdish Media)
Measuring the opportunity cost of ECA capital in the UK March 16, 2005
BP Covered Up BTC Pipeline Flaw April 17, 2005
British MPs Hit Bribery Rule Weakening April 5, 2005
BTC Pipeline in New Human Rights Storm March 27, 2005
UK Africa Plan Targets Corruption March 5, 2005
Out of Court Settlement for ECA Watchdog: UK Corruption Standard May Have Been Weakened Under Corporate Pressure January 13, 2005
News 2004:
UK’s ECGD Insures Saudi Military December 14, 2004
ECGD Funded Suharto Tanks, Belying UK’s Claimed Ethical Foreign Policy December 7, 2004
Trade Secretary Now Facing Review for Weakening Corruption Controls December 2, 2004
Legal Challenge Ahead for UK ECA November 20, 2004
Pipeline Opponents Threaten Legal Action Against UK’s ECA November 17, 2004
UK ECA ECGD Backs Down on Corruption Controls November 8, 2004
BP’s Millions at the Expense of the UK Taxpayer, Environment October 6, 2004
Did Halliburton Bribe Nigerian Dictator on ECA-backed LNG Terminal? October 3, 2004
UK ECA Threatens Engineering Group with Blacklisting for Saddam Kickbacks August 1, 2004
UK ECA Seeks Oil Investments in Iran July 23, 2004
Whistleblowers Reveal BTC Pipeline Construction Failures June 26, 2004
UK Channel Four News Investigates British ECA Practices June 8, 2004
Law Suit Filed on Cancelled Tanzanian Water Project May 27, 2005
UK Parliament Rips British ECA on Baku-T'blisi-Ceyhan Pipeline May 20, 2004
Democratic Alliance Welcomes Brit Arms Probe March 31, 2004
British, French, and Italian ECAs Finance Oil Pipeline in Algeria March 29, 2004
ECGD and Troubled Dabhol Power Project March 8, 2004
News 1999-2003:
British ECA head claims sustainable development at heart of their mission April 28, 2003
British ECA takes "realistic" line on Iraqi debt April 16, 2003
Britain's dirty secret March 6, 2003 During the 1980s, the UK's Export Credits Guarantee Department likely helped finance chemical weapons in Iraq
ECGD Snoops for Oil Deals in Iran
Papers for UK Seminar on Export Credit Agency Reform - "Beyond Business Principles" House of Commons May 23, 2002
Recommendations from Friends of the Earth
to the ECGD regarding Sustainable Energy and Climate Change
2002 By Kate Hampton, International Coordinator, Climate Change Campaign, Friends of the Earth UK
The case for removing arms from the ECGD's portfolio
2002 By Ann Feltham, Campaign Against Arms Trade and Michael Bartlett, Religious Society of Friends
"Still Underwriting Corruption? The ECGD’s recent record"
2002 By Susan Hawley for The Corner House
Call for full disclosure of revenues to all national governments by transnational natural resource companies and related national subsidiaries and business partners
2002 By Global Witness
Recommendations for the Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) on Debt and Export Credits
2002 By Romilly Greenhill, Jubilee Research
The ECGD and the Human Rights Act
2002 By Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project, and Nicholas Hildyard, The Corner House
Combating Corruption - Recommendations to the UK Export Credit Guarantee Department 2002 By Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), Kirstine Drew, UNICORN - A Global Unions Anti-corruption Network
ECGD will demand green credentials
October 23, 2002 (Insurance Day)
UK Government UK Export Credit Agency promotes tougher stance on environmental and social impacts of projects
October 22, 2002 (M2 Presswire)
Canadian firm convicted of bribery for Lesotho Highlands Water Project September 18, 2002 In a landmark decision, the High Court in Lesotho has convicted Acres
International, a Canadian engineering consulting firm, of paying bribes
to win contracts on the multi-billion dollar Lesotho Highlands Water Project
(LHWP). Sentencing will take place on October 7th and 8th.
Acres was found to have paid $266,000 in bribes to Masupha Sole, the former chief executive of the LHWP. Earlier this year, Sole was sentenced to 18 years in prison for receiving bribes from Acres and a number of other multinationals, including the consortium of which Balfour Beatty, the UK construction giant, was a part. Spie Batignoles, the lead company in the consortium, is due to appear in court on bribery charges next year. Balfour Beatty received financial support from the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department.
Submission from the Campaign Against Arms Trade to the International Development Committee's Inquiry into Corruption 
September 2000
Submission by the Campaign Against Arms Trade in response to the Export Credits Guarantee Department Review of its Mission and Status October 1999 By CAAT
For more information, contact the ECA Watch Facilitator.
ECA Watch Campaign Member Links:
The Cornerhouse, Nick Hildyard - www.thecornerhouse.org.uk
Campaign Against Arms Trade,
Ann Feltham - www.caat.org.uk
Kurdish Human Rights Project, UK,
Kerim Yildiz - www.khrp.org
Friends of the Earth UK (FOE-UK),
Kate Hampton - www.foe.co.uk
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