BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will send to Congress late yesterday a bill aiming to crack down on companies that bribe public officials, the president’s office said.

The bill follows years of international pressure for Brazil to honor commitments it made when it signed United Nations and OECD conventions on corruption.

Under the legislative proposal, a company caught bribing domestic or foreign public officials would pay a fine of 1-30 per cent of its gross income and could even be shut down, the president’s office said in a statement.

Currently companies caught paying off domestic or foreign officials are simply banned from bidding for future government procurement contracts.

The bill would also prevent individuals convicted of fraud from founding a new company and be able to again bid for government contracts.

Officials of some multinational companies operating in Brazil privately complain that they are at a disadvantage because local companies are not bound by tough anti-corruption laws.