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British companies have faced strict criminal law sanctions for failing to prevent bribery and corruption for the past decade, but instead of chafing at the bit of tighter legislation they seem to want more.

A survey of UK-based multinational companies published yesterday found that they would prefer tougher human rights and environmental laws, which would mirror corruption provisions in the Bribery Act 2010.

Nearly 70 per cent of the large companies surveyed by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law said that existing legislation does not provide sufficient certainty about the procedures required to avoid legal risks over human rights abuses...