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Category : Business | Tags : truecrime compliance bribery corruption law business |
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act researcher Cody Worthington responded to our post Their Days Are Numbered. To our list of thirteen people waiting to be sentenced for violating or conspiring to violate the FCPA, he suggested we add three more. Here they are . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog.com
Standard Podcasts [ 2:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (14)In Dakar, the capital of the West African country of Senegal, the IMF’s regional representative was given a farewell dinner two months ago. After three years in the post, Alex Segura was heading back to his native Spain. As the evening ended, President Abdoulaye Wade handed Segura a going-away gift. It was cash — €100,000 and $50,000. Segura boarded his flight and left the country, cash in hand. In later explaining Segura’s actions, the IMF said he was worried about missing his plane and concerned about finding a place to stash the cash safely in Senegal. . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog.com
We count at least thirteen people waiting to be sentenced for violating or conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Both offenses carry a prison term of up to five years. And for substantive offenses the fine can be up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain produced by the bribes. Those listed either pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial. Their names (linked to posts describing their guilty pleas or convictions) are followed by current sentencing dates. The dates often slip, so we’ll try to stay on top of any changes. . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog
Hermitage Capital Management, once the largest foreign investor in the Russian stock market, has accused police officials, bankers, judges and lawyers of working with gangsters to steal $230 million from the company and using its documents to obtain another $230 million from the Russian treasury through fraudulent tax refunds. Hermitage’s latest complaint, according to the Washington Post, accused “several bureaucrats in two Moscow tax agencies of involvement in the crimes and lists more than 30 suspicious tax refunds issued by the agencies between 2006 and 2008, as well as the account numbers of the recipients.” . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog.com
Halliburton disclosed Friday in its latest SEC filing that the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) may bring civil claims or criminal charges against it under various British laws. In February this year, Halliburton and its former subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root LLC, admitted paying Nigerian officials at least $182 million in bribes for contracts awarded between 1995 and 2004 to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria. The companies agreed with the U.S. Justice Department to pay a $402 million criminal fine, with Halliburton paying $382 million of that amount. Halliburton also agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to be jointly liable with KBR to pay $177 million in disgorgement. . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog.com
In Malaysia this week, four forestry department officials, including the department director, an officer and two rangers, were arrested for taking a $30,000 bribe. In exchange, they allegedly awarded illegal logging concessions. Malaysia has prized hardwoods growing in protected areas in and around its rain forests. The arrests came after an investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. According to the Malaysia Star, more than $100,000 in cash was seized from the house of the director, who “is said to be a millionaire.” The anti-corruption team is now investigating the sources of his wealth. He and the other suspects are being held “to assist in investigations.” So far this year, Malaysian authorities have discovered 21 cases of illegal logging with 23 arrests. . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog.com
Investigative reporters may be disappearing from newsrooms everywhere, but they still have an important role to play in holding institutions and people accountable for overseas bribery. Rob Evans of the U.K. Guardian contributed an essay to TI’s Global Corruption Report 2009. It’s about how he and David Leigh broke the BAE story. Their investigation wasn’t quick or easy, and not many news organizations these days would have let the story play out the way the Guardian did. But the paper supported its reporters and with time and luck (which came in the form of a couple of well-placed whistleblowers) one of Britain’s biggest commercial scandals made it into public view. . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog.com
Standard Podcasts [ 4:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (23)In Dongguan, a Chinese city on the Pearl River Delta, graft busters are using a powerful weapon against corrupt public officials: their mistresses. During a recent period, 32 out of 38 corruption cases handled by the city’s prosecutors were based on complaints or confessions from girlfriends of married office-holders. “At least 80 percent of corrupt officials exposed in Dongguan had mistresses who gave us important information that we did not possess,” said Zhou Yuefeng, deputy director of the Dongguan anti-graft bureau. . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog.com
Companies facing federal criminal indictment under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other laws have a sure-fire way to help themselves. They can cooperate. Those found to have “fully cooperated” under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are entitled to reduced penalties; most of them escape with a deferred or non-prosecution agreement. How does the government measure cooperation? One way has been to look at whether the target agreed to spill the beans on employees by waiving the attorney-client privilege. . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog.com
We’ve talked before about corruption in Afghanistan. In debating what to do there, some argue that Iraq was just as corrupt, yet the surge still worked. Was Iraq just as corrupt? It looks like it. Both countries are ranked near the bottom of the Corruption Perception Index: Iraq at 178 and Afghanistan at 176. In the inexact art of calibrating corruption, that’s a dead heat. But for American policy makers, there’s a world of difference between the two. . . .
Read the entire post on The FCPA Blog www.fcpablog.com
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