http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/british-american-tobacco-accused-of-bribing-senior-politicians-to-sabotage-anti-smoking-laws-a6754961.html
Several individuals involved with the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control allegedly targeted
The allegations against BAT have come from whistleblowers from inside the company, and are supported by court documents Corbis
British American Tobacco, one of Britain’s biggest companies, has been accused of bribing senior politicians and civil servants in a bid to sabotage anti-smoking laws.
The allegations by whistleblowers from the company, and supported by court documents, relate to the company’s operations in several African countries.
Paul Hopkins, who served in the Irish Special Forces before working for BAT, claims he broke the law for the tobacco firm. “I was a commercial hitman,” he said in an interview broadcast on BBC One’s Panorama.
Commenting on the practice of bribery, Mr Hopkins, who worked for BAT in Kenya for 13 years, said: “It was explained to me in Africa that’s the cost of doing business.”
Several individuals involved with the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) were allegedly targeted.
Under the UK Bribery Act, British companies can be prosecuted for bribery which takes place overseas. And anti-smoking campaigners are demanding the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launch a criminal investigation into BAT.
“BAT is bribing people, and I’m facilitating it,” claimed Mr Hopkins, who no longer works for the company.
Before he left, he recorded conversations with his boss, Gary Fagan, BAT’s director for East and Central Africa, and a company lawyer Naushad Ramoly, discussing bribes. In an exchange in 2013, the lawyer said: “That’s what we are going to be paying. Yeah, ok, fine. Anything else that you think we’ll need to be paying for?” Mr Ramoly, who no longer works for BAT, denies involvement in illegal activities. And Mr Fagan denies giving permission for the payment of bribes.
Two FCTC representatives, Godefroid Kamwenubusa, from Burundi, and Chaibou Bedja Abdou, from the Comoros Islands, were both allegedly paid $3,000 (£2,000), according to the Panorama investigation. And Bonaventure Nzeyimana, a former FCTC representative from Rwanda, was allegedly paid $20,000. All three deny accepting bribes. But in court documents, BAT describes the payments to the three as “unlawful bribes,” according to the BBC.
Another allegedly bribed was Moses Watangula, former Minister of Trade, Kenya. The tobacco company paid for a business class return flight for his wife to London. He denies having had dealings with BAT.
And Dr Kasirivu Atwooki, a Ugandan MP who sat on a committee writing a report on a rival company, was allegedly given £20,000 to make amendments and give it to BAT in advance. He denies the allegations