Tories crack down on companies paying foreign bribes The Conservative government is putting forward legislation to make it easier to prosecute Canadian companies that pay bribes to win business abroad. The new law will allow authorities to prosecute Canadians even if they pay the bribe outside the country - closing a loophole that has made it harder for police to file charges. And it will also increase the maximum sentence for bribing a foreign official to 14 years, from the current 5-year maximum. Canada has long been chastised by international organizations for being too lax on foreign bribery, but a series of high-profile cases have caught the attention of the country's business community, and the public. Most recently, Calgary-based oil firm Griffiths International Inc. disclosed that it had paid $2-million in February, 2011 to the wife of Chad's then-ambassador to Canada to help secure oil and gas exploration contracts in the African country, according to an agreed statement of facts filed in a Calgary court. The company pleaded guilty to bribery charges, and agreed to pay a $10.35-million fine last month. The RCMP is also investigating a case involving a Canadian giant in the lucrative field of international infrastructure and engineering, SNC-Lavalin Inc. RCMP officers alleged that employees of the company paid $160-million to get business in Moammar Gadhafi's Libya, including buying luxury yachts for Saadi Gadhafi, the son of the late dictator, according to warrants that were unsealed in January. Those allegations have not been proven in court. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, who brought an SNC executive to meet Libya's new leaders in 2011, said he would review Canada's laws after reports indicated the company had worked with organizations linked to the military under the Gadhafi regime. "Obviously, we're open to reviewing our laws, our regulations, our policies and protocols going forward in the future," Mr. Baird said in January, 2012. On Tuesday, Mr. Baird announced new legislation to tighten Canadian bribery laws is being tabled in the Senate. Canada is a trading nation. Our economy and future prosperity depend upon expanding our trade ties with the world. This, we hope, is a good faith sign that Canada's good name retains its currency," Mr. Baird said in a statement. In addition to allowing prosecutors here to go after Canadian companies for bribes they pay abroad, the new law will also outlaw so-called "facilitation payments" - the grease money paid to foreign officials even if it's not directly linked to gaining a business deal or advantage. Those payments, technically different from a bribe, will not be immediately made illegal, but the government will outlaw them at a later date, presumably to give companies warning of the changing rules. The new law will also make it an explicit criminal offence for companies to hide bribery on their own books. Although Canada signed an international convention on combating bribery in 1998, it has long been criticized for doing too little to enforce anti-bribery measures. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which reviews countries" action to combat bribery, has repeatedly issued reports calling Canada's enforcement weak, most recently in 2011.