08/07/2013 - The OECD Working Group on Bribery has designated Slovenian national Drago Kos to serve as the Group’s new Chair.

 

Mr. Kos comes to the OECD Working Group on Bribery as an established international anti-corruption expert, having served for eight years (2003 – 2011) as the President of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO). He also served as the first elected President of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption in the Republic of Slovenia (2004 – 2010). He has extensive knowledge and experience in fighting economic and financial crime. 

 

Mr. Kos will lead the Group in its monitoring and evaluation of the laws implementing the Anti-Bribery Convention by its 40 Parties, which include the 34 OECD member countries together with Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Russia and South Africa.

 

He will take over from Professor Mark Pieth as Chair on 1 January 2014.

 

Professor Pieth has served as Chair of the Working Group on Bribery since 1990, helping to usher in a new global anti-bribery movement that began with the signing of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in 1997. During his chairmanship, the Parties to the Convention have criminalised the bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions under their own laws and conducted three rounds of rigorous peer-review monitoring evaluations under the Convention. These developments have resulted in increased cooperation among the Parties in investigating and prosecuting foreign bribery cases, with over 300 individuals and companies sanctioned for foreign bribery under national laws and hundreds more under investigation.

 

“Mark’s capable and expert chairmanship has been key to raising awareness of the importance of fighting bribery and corruption and making the Group the world’s leading anti-bribery body. He leaves an indelible imprint in our work in this area and I would like to thank him for his leadership and dedication,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. “I am confident that Drago Kos, with his long and impressive career of fighting corruption, will be an excellent successor.”

 

For further information, journalists are invited to contact Mary Crane-Charef, OECD Anti-Corruption Division Communications Co-ordinator, telephone +33 1 45 24 97 04.

 

For more information on OECD’s work to fight corruption, please visit www.oecd.org/daf/nocorruption.