Corporate Compliance
Prosecutors Bringing More Foreign Bribery Cases
Posted Dec 5, 2007, 10:17 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Prosecutors and securities officials are increasingly targeting companies for paying bribes to obtain foreign contracts, bringing more than double the number of cases this year than the number filed in 2004.
The government has already collected more than $100 million in penalties this year, the Washington Post reports. Prosecutions are being brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, causing companies to review their policies and practices, ABAJournal.com noted in a prior post.
The law permits prosecutions of U.S. companies or foreign businesses if their stock is traded on U.S. exchanges. Among those under investigation are nearly a dozen energy companies suspected of bribing Nigerian customs officials; insurance broker Aon Corp., subpoenaed for information about its foreign operations; and Daimler, the Post says.
Lawyers told the Post that the increase in cases is partly driven by companies that turn themselves in to prosecutors in hopes of leniency.
The ABA Journal noted reports that the Justice Department had “stuffed the pipeline with new FCPA cases” in a March 2007 article on strategies companies are using to avoid prosecutions. The Post article says nearly 60 federal cases are under investigation.
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