More enforcement is needed against South African companies that allegedly bribe foreign officials in order to secure contracts or licences and concessions‚ according to Corruption Watch. The watchdog organisation said a report released by Transparency International this week had shown South Africa once again to be lacking in its commitment to investigate and prosecute cross-border corruption by companies.The progress report‚ titled Exporting Corruption‚ is an independent assessment of the enforcement of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Anti-Bribery Convention to which South Africa‚ together with 40 other countries‚ is a signatory.“The Convention is a key instrument for curbing global corruption because the 41 signatory countries account for approximately two-thirds of the world’s exports. One of the fundamental goals of the Convention is to create a corruption-free level playing field for global trade and investment‚” explained Corruption Watch‚ which is the South African chapter of Transparency International.It said the report showed that South Africa had not investigated any major foreign bribery cases in the past four years. However‚ there had been progress in smaller‚ less prominent cases where efforts had been made to commence the investigative process‚ although none had been completed to date.“Encouragingly‚ the number of cases picked up in the last year has increased three-fold in comparison with the previous three years (2011 to 2013)‚ indicating the start of a more proactive approach to uncovering cases of foreign bribery.“The report identifies the strengthening of the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) by the SA government as a progressive step towards complying with the Anti-Bribery Convention‚” the watchdog body stated.Corruption Watch’s executive director‚ David Lewis‚ commented: “While the increase in the number of investigations of allegations of foreign bribery is encouraging‚ in order to meet our commitments under the Convention we will have to see these investigations resulting in prosecutions and sanctions.”..