The justice system is falling short of aggressively investigating allegations of foreign bribery, despite having improved its information and intelligence gathering capabilities, according to an international report released on Thursday.

The report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Working Group on Bribery said that Korea must improve several policies to combat international bribery.

According to the report, Seoul must expand its networking abilities to gather more leads on allegations and enhance its investigating abilities.

The Working Group report detailed that Korea must keep records of cases for a much longer period to ensure effective, full reporting. The report also stressed that punishment of convicted individuals and companies must be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive.”

The group also conveyed the need for authorities to create inter-departmental communication to utilize information gathered through tax audits as leads to uncover foreign bribery.

The OECD group also reviewed transnational foreign bribery cases here since 1999, of which Korea has prosecuted nine cases. Of those convictions, eight involved bribing procurement authorities from the U.S. Forces Korea. Bribes to obtain USFK contracts or information ranged anywhere from makeup and toiletries, to luxury sedans and $600,000 in cash.

Prison sentences ranged from eight months to four years for those convicted, and fines from $1,000 to $10,000.

Currently there is one case under prosecution, with another three allegations being investigated. All four cases took place overseas.

The Working Group on Bribery developed the report after reviewing laws, regulations and other material provided by the Korean government. The group also had examiners interview representatives from public administrations, the private sector and civil societies. The group is composed of 34 OECD member countries, including Argentina, Brazil and Russia, and is the first international organization to fight cross-country corruption in business practices.

Korea is required to submit both an oral and written report within two years, which details the efforts the country has made in implementing all the recommendations.

In 1999, Korea first enacted the Act on Preventing Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transaction.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)