Companies involved in bribery are at risk of being sued by their competitors, following the case of.Jalal Bezee Mejel Al-Gaood & Partner v Innospec Ltd [2014] EWHC 3147.
Innospec had previously admitted paying bribes in both US and UK criminal proceedings and the Claimant alleged that it lost the possibility of winning a contract due to Innospec’s unlawful conduct.
Although Innospec successfully defended the case, the High Court did decide that such a claim by a competitor was legally possible. In this case, the Claimant failed to establish causation, namely that its product would have been selected by the customer in the absence of bribery.
