The chairman of British American Tobacco has denied that non-executive directors failed to act over claims that the cigarette maker bribed African officials.
Richard Burrows, who has been the company’s chairman since 2009, said: “I can assure you that the board takes very seriously its role in establishing appropriate systems of corporate governance and, through our committee structure, reviewing its internal control systems, governance framework and issues that arise.”
BAT faced claims in a BBC Panorama documentary broadcast this week that some of its employees in eastern Africa had paid bribes to politicians and health officials to gain commercial advantage, in breach of the UK Bribery Act. Most of the claims were made by Paul Hopkins, a whistleblower, who worked for the company for 13