Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Justice Dept provides Corps. with How To guide
Because of recent prosecutions, corporate America was worried about what might be considered a bribe overseas, the DOJ has provided a guide to what it considers a prosecutable action.
With billions of dollars in potential fines and foreign investment in the balance, the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday released long-awaited guidance on how prosecutors interpret and enforce a federal anticorruption law that bans American businesses from bribing officials overseas.So if you keep within the guidelines, you can bribe foreigners to your heart's content. And you have no excuse if you go beyond and get busted.
The 120-page “resource guide” to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act lays out the government’s understanding of and standard practices for the 1977 law. The statute sat largely dormant for decades, but a recent explosion of enforcement has struck terror into corporate boardrooms, leading to large fees for compliance lawyers and enormous fines and settlements paid to the government.
The detailed guidance — including numerous case studies illustrating what would and would not be considered a violation of the law — is particularly important because cases of foreign corrupt practices rarely get adjudicated. Corporations are generally inclined to settle potential cases without a trial because being indicted can cripple a business.
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