"Tonight on Panorama, we expose corruption at one of Britain's biggest companies." "This is not only criminal activity, it is really totally unacceptable." "The bribery secrets of British American tobacco revealed by the man who did their dirty work." "Bribing?" "Yes." "Breaking the law?" "Yes." "And you were happy to do that?" "Yes." "We reveal how BAT's bribes undermind a United Nations campaign to save lives." "Er It's using -- it's using bribery to profit at the cost of people's lives." "Simple as that." "We track down the politicians and civil servants who took the illegal payments." "You took man from BAT, didn't you, $3,000?" "I don't think so." "Mr Durante..." "We confront those at the top about corruption at BAT." "Why due not respond to our e-mails about bribery, is that the nature of BAT that you put up with bribery?" "Places all." "All joins hands, circle left." "Around you go." "Lucky Strike makes fine tobacco." "British American Tobacco sold 667 billion cigarettes last year." "Lucky Strike is first again." "First again with tobacco men." "Famous brands like Lucky Strike, Benson Hedges and Rothmans." "For smoking that you're bound to like, you just can't beat a Lucky Strike." "BAT is Britain's fifth biggest company." "And it made 4.5 billion profit last year." "The company is doing well says the chief executive" "Nicandro Durante in this glossy corporate video." "We are on course to deliver very, very good results for shareholders." "BAT is part of a controversial industry, but it does all it can to portray itself as an ethical, respectable and law abiding company." "Another promotional video describes BAT's business ethics." "We are committed to operating to the very highest standards of the corporate conduct, behaving in a responsible way, running our business in a responsible manner all over the world." "But our investigation reveals BAT doesn't always meet those standards." "Tonight, we'll show how its bribery damaged rival businesses, corrupted national parliaments and undermind a" "United Nations campaign to save lives." "This is tobacco country in northern Uganda." "Thousands of farmers make their living from tobacco here." "But some have found a different way to make money from this crop." "We're on our way to meet a very important man." "This is a guy who helps to decide who gets to buy and sell tobacco and what we know about the man we're on our way to meet is he's corrupt." "Dr Kasirivu Atwooki is the big man in these hills." "He's the local MP and sits on an important Parliamentary Committee." "He doesn't know it yet, but we have evidence he's taken bribes from BAT." "If an" "MP, a sitting MP, took a bribe, how would you feel about that?" "I mean, that's not acceptable." "You took a bribe, though, didn't you?" "How, why should I?" "You took $20,000 from BAT." "From where?" "In 2012." "No, no, no." "That's not true." "Are you corrupt?" "I'm not." "Our evidence suggests he is." "Dr Atwooki's Parliamentary Committee was writing a report on a rival tobacco company and BAT wanted to see it." "A confidential document, written later by a BAT security contractor and seen by Panorama, says BAT agreed to pay the MP." "To see the report would cost $5,000." "The payment was done by a third party, and we received a copy of the draft report." But that was just the start." "Atwooki said BAT could amend the report in return for more cash." "For this to happen, it would cost $20,000." "The contractor said BAT paid the bribe, the MP changed his report, and BAT got what it wanted." "They make it very clear that you approached BAT and said, I can show you the first draft of this report for $5,000." "Did you do that, yes or not?" "No." "Then they say that if you wanted to amend that report, that would come to $20,000." "Did that happen, yes or not?" "It didn't." "The committee report is not written by one person." "It is a committee report and we read through the report and we agree on it and people sign and that's what happens, very transparent." "We know about the bribes because of this man." "Paul Hopkins served in the" "Irish Special Forces." "He then worked for BAT in Africa for 13 years." "He ran security and antismuggling operations but also arranged BAT's bribe payments." "He fell out with the company and was made redundant." "Now he's turned whistle-blower." "I was a commercial hitman." "My job was to ensure that the competition never got a breathing space." "So BAT, they knew what they wanted you to do and they expected you to get on with it?" "Yes." "And that included bribing?" "Yes." "Breaking the law?" "Yes." "Applying pressure?" "Yes." "Undermining commercial rivals?" "Yes." "And you were happy to do that?" "Yes." "Were you surprised bit things BAT expected to you do?" "No." "They're quite shocking in this environment, but in - as it was explained to me, in Africa, that's the cost of doing business." "The documents Paul Hopkins gave us show how far BAT was prepared to go to get its own way, even if it meant undermining a United Nations' effort to save lives." "Based in Geneva, the UN's World Health Organisation is trying to reduce the number of deaths caused by tobacco. 180 countries have signed up to its Framework Convention on Tobacco" "Control or FCTC." "FCTC wants to reduce the demand for tobacco around the world." "They say they're tackling the spread of a habit that kills six million people a year." "But BAT had a man on the inside." "This is Godefroid" "Kamwenubusa." "He's one of Burundi's representatives at FCTC." "And this is an e-mail from BAT authorising a bribe that was paid to him." "Call" "Godefroy." "He supported us at INB." "We owe him $3,000." The INB is part of the tobacco control convention." "And Kamwenubusa was being bribed to support BAT." "I showed the e-mail to the head of the convention." "That's" "BAT paying a representative $3,000." "What do you feel about that?" "It's a company that is irresponsible to say the least." "It's using bribery to profit at the cost of people's lives." "Simple as that." "But it gets worse." "BAT also bribed this man, a former Rwandan FCTC representative," "Bonaventure Nzeyimana." "This bank transfer shows the $20,000 bribe being paid." "Dr Nzeyimana admitted getting the money but said it had nothing to do with tobacco or BAT." "And an FCTC representative from the" "Comoros islands, Chaibou Bedja Abdou was paid $3,000, though he told us he'd never received any money from BAT." "So three people involved with the UN's antitobacco campaign all being bribed by BAT." "What would you like to see happen to BAT as a result of what we've shown you?" "I think BAT should be investigated by the government and should be just punished accordingly." "BAT told us that:" "But Panorama has obtained papers in which BAT describes the payments to the three officials linked to the tobacco convention as unlawful bribes." "So in these previously unpublished documents, the company admits they were illegal payments." "This is Mastermind Tobacco in" "Kenya's capital, Nairobi." "It's one of BAT's main rivals in east Africa." "And BAT paid bribes to discover its secrets." "These are all the confidential documents we procured from Mastermind." "So this, all of this, is the fruits of bribery?" "Yeah, information sources on the board of Mastermind." "How much money's worth of black ops is here?" "Could be a couple of hundred thousand pounds." "Minutes of the marketing meetings would be the most useful." "I saw it usually 12 or 14 ours after it happened." "If you hadn't paid any money, how many files would we have in front of us?" "Ah, none." "None?" "This is what you get when you pay the money?" "Yeah." "Paul also arranged bribes to get public officials to hand over details of Mastermind's tax affairs." "Do you ever think how did I end up doing this?" "I was a Special Forces guy, a good guy, and now I'm just corrupt, I'm bribing people." "BAT's bribing people and I'm facilitating it." "This is locally made." "We designed this and built this here." "We showed the owner of Mastermind the evidence that BAT was waging an illegal campaign against the company." "You?" "It's terrible for an organisation that claims to be a civilised organisation to be involved in activity of this nature." "It's wrong." "It's unjust and it is evil." "On their website BAT make great play of the fact that they are an ethical company and they do things buy the rules." "What do you make of that?" "That's PR." "So BAT managers knew that you were bribing people?" "Yes." "And Paul has evidence." "This was his boss, Gary Fagan, BAT's area director for east and Central" "Africa." "Paul secretly recorded a conversation with him." "They discussed the bribes paid to tax officials at the Kenya Revenue" "Authority, or KRA." "Fagan seems to know about the bribes and he certainly doesn't tell Paul to stop." "It is illegal for British companies to pay bribes anywhere in the world." "They can face unlimited fines if they don't take steps to prevent bribery." "This is not only criminal activity it is really totally unacceptable." "What they are doing is they are undermining a system of governance that operates." "Gary Fagan denies that he authorised or sanctioned to payments of bribes." "But Paul also secretly recorded a" "BAT lawyer." "Naushad Ramoly." "Shortly before Paul leaves the company, Ramoly agrees they should make final bribe payments to informant at the tax authority, who he call the KRA, and Mastermind" "Tobacco's board." "Naushad Ramoly says he has never been involved in illegal activities or and he reported the within Paul" "Hopkins to senior BAT management." "AT management. -- reported the withiner" "Paul Hopkins to senior BAT management." "The whistle-blower isn't the only former employee who says BAT paid bribes." "I'm in Uganda for the court case of this former BAT lobbyist." "Soloman Muyita says BAT managers told him to give cash to 50 people." "BAT fired him." "They say he's lying." "He's suing them for wrongful dismissal." "In court, BAT disputed Muyita's claims." "But documents submitted to court suggest BAT did make illegal payments." "They show BAT paid MPs here in Uganda's Parliament to undermine a proposed anti-Tokelau." "Undermine undermine a proposed anti-Tokelau." " antitobacco law." "So strict controls on where people could smoke, new controls on the way cigarettes could be marketed." "Restrictions of the displays of cigarettes in shops." "It is safe to say that this was not a Bill that BAT liked." "One of the MPs who proposed the antitobacco Bill was David Bahati." "The intention and the purpose of the Bill is to protect the wellbeing and health of" "Ugandans." "But the court documents suggest that Bahati received thousands of dollars from BAT, hand he was recruited by BAT Uganda to infiltrate, influence and spy on the cohort of antitobacco activists." "Minutes of a meeting between BAT and the MP say he supported having most of our views accommodated in the proposed tobacco 6 law." "David Bahati didn't respond to any of our questions, but to be clear, an MP who is the poster boy for the antitobacco lobby was being secretly bribed by BAT." "What do you make of that?" "If they are being paid specifically in order to amend legislation, you've got a clear breach of duty." "If it is a clear breach of duty the payment is a bribe." "BAT told Panorama:" "The problem for BAT is the evidence of illegal behaviour keeps coming." "Remember the bribes paid to undermine the UN convention on tobacco control is this they were arranged by the woman, Owino ow, a BAT lobbyist." "We've got the e-mails." "They are extraordinary, the whole corrupt practice is laid bare." "Take the corrupt payment to the Burundi official Godefroid Kamwenubusa." "The cash wasn't just for his work undermining the UN." "Julie" "Adell-Owino wanted something else for BAT's money." "Owino wanted something else for BAT's money." "We owe him $3,000 but this is also an exchange for the draft TCB that the Minister has." "TCB stands for Tobacco" "Control Bill." "One e-mail says that Kamwenubusa could accommodate any amendments before the President signs." "It's another attempt by BAT to undermine an antismoking law." "So what does Dr Kamwenubusa say about his bribe?" "Sa say about his bribe?" "Did you take $3,000 from BAT?" "No, no." "I think you did." "So I'm going to go through the paperwork with you." "I think you are not telling me the truth." "So if you look at this e-mail here, Sir." "This e-mail talks about you." "It is from somebody inside BAT." "The lobbying group." "If you read it, Sir, it says, we it says, we owe him" "$,000, but this is also an exchange for the draft Tobacco Control Bill." "It talks about you, Sir." "About the money that they paid you." "Listen, me." "You took money from ey from BAT, you took $3,000." "The paperwork all refers to you." "This is another internal document that refers to you." "The guy can accommodate any amendments before the President signs." "So this is your chance to be honest." "This is your chance." "I know you took the bribes." "Then there's the case of Moses" "Wetangula, Kenya's former Minister of trade." "He wanted a flight to" "London for his wife." "Julie Adell-Owino was happy to pay for it." "We've agreed to get a ticket for his wife, find out how much the business class ticket will cost and buy it, paying by cash." "The transaction needed to be..." "Paperless, no receipts if any in his name." "Julie" "Adell-Owino categorically denied involvement in bribery, and said BAT was mistaken when it admitted that the payment were bribes." "So what does the former Minister say?" "The reason we wanted to talk to you is it has been suggested that you have been corrupt and that you have taken things from BAT." "Who, me?" "This ticket, it was to be paid for in cash and given to your bodyguard..." "Yes." "And there would be no paper trail." "Oh my God." "Why Why would that happen?" "First of all I'm embarrassed to hear that, I'm upset to hear that, and I will take action against anybody who is doing that." "It looks like corruption." "Listen, man, you are now upsetting me, because I did not receive any ticket or any money." "I do not want to offend you." "Sometimes I accidentally offend you because I put allegations to you." "This counts as illegal bribery." "And" "I reserve the right to take legal action." "What would you say to our viewers, it seems to be true." "Let me repeat this again, I have never had the links to BAT..." "But the evidence suggests politicians and civil servants were paid bribes." "They broke the law but it is BAT that faces the most serious questions." "And not just from the UK authorities." "The fines could be huge, especially in the US." "The US will take it very seriously today." "Every single suggestion of bribery, bribe scandal if you like, that affects a European company has automatically triggered an inquiry by the Department of Justice in the" "US." "We first asked BAT about the bribery allegations three months ago." "We've sent 16 emails to chief" "Executive Nicandro Durante, but he hasn't answered any of our questions about the bribe payments we uncovered." "Mr Durante?" "I caught up with him as his chauffeur dropped him off at BAT's London headquarters." "Sir, can I ask you a quick question?" "I'm from Panorama." "Why did you not respond to our emails about bribery?" "Is that the nature of BAT, sir, that you just put up with bribery?" "Sir, could you come out and give us a quick answer to the questions?" "What should we make of your company?" "One question, sir." "What should our viewers make of BAT?" "It's not terribly impressive, sir." "We've been writing to you for months, sir, why don't you just give us a response?" "No response." "BAT later told us:" "And what about the whistleblower," "Paul Hopkins?" "Well, this week, he plans to meet with investigators from the Serious Fraud Office in the UK." "Britain's fifth biggest company will have to explain why its staff broke the law for such a long time in so many countries."