Alexandra Wrage, President and Founder of TRACE, discusses a few key steps to bolster anti-bribery compliance programs than help companies maintain strong compliance in any economy by lowering costs without lowering standards.
The latest post from FCPA Columnist Mike Koehler wonders if we reflexively label a “foreign official” who receives “things of value” from private business interests as corrupt, yet when a U.S. official similarly receives “things of value” from private business interests we merely say “well, no one said our system is perfect”?
Blackwater (and its executives) could be in some murky FCPA water in connection with alleged secret payments to Iraqi officials. Also, Garth Peterson was fired by Morgan Stanley last December over concerns that he may have violated the FCPA.
Rebekah Poston and Gregory Bates — Squire, Sanders & Dempsey
When the economic going gets tough, multinational companies might be tempted to cut costs by cutting back on steps needed to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
But the Department of Justice is on record that it and the Securities and Exchange Commission don’t expect to cut back on the number of FCPA investigations and prosecutions. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) collected more than $924 million in combined penalties from corporations and individuals for FCPA violations. And lead DOJ Prosecutor Mark Mendelsohn recently – and pointedly – noted that even though the global economic crisis presents “a grave challenge in the fight against foreign bribery … companies need to be especially vigilant in this economic climate not to cut back. Our law enforcement efforts are not going to be scaled back, and so it would be, I think, a grave mistake for a company to take that path.”
Instituting policies and procedures that implement the Guidelines and practicing effective due diligence are two bedrock fundamentals of FCPA compliance and risk mitigation.
CCI featured columnist Jason Meyer says that recent events prove that all companies need to be mindful of being compliant with the FCPA; enforcement will not just be limited to the big guys.
