Via WSJ Law Blog.
The FCPA was all the rage in the Beltway today as the Senate took a hard look at DOJ’s enforcement practices.
One question from Arlen Specter, the FCPA blog points out, is why no one is going to jail for the biggest cases of overseas bribery, such as the massive Siemens scandal. No one has been indicted in the U.S. in the Siemens case, despite the fact that DOJ uses it as its poster child for its ramp up in cracking down on foreign corruption. (Click here for prior LB coverage of the case.)
“Criminal fines are added to the costs of doing business,” Specter said. “Going to jail is what works to deter crime.”
On the flip side, defense lawyers told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that U.S. companies are spending too much money worrying they might unintentionally flout the FCPA, according to this report in the LegalTimes’s BLT blog.
Foreign bribery...this is making me laugh. I have seen a number of multinationals who come to India, and start bribing everybody and start taking kickbacks bigtime. In India corruption is high, the multinationals have a fantastic complaince program documented but not adhred to.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to see anyone of them taken to court in India or abroad.
Sonia