In India, petty corruption is pervasive. Its citizens often face situations where they are asked to pay bribes for public services that should be provided free. The 5th Pillar is advocating for paying the bribe with a zero-rupee note. According Vijay Anand, president of the 5th Pillar, the idea is credited to an expatriate Indian … Read more »
Category: Bribery and Corruption
Blue Collar or White Collar
Undercover agents, wire taps and search warrants. For a criminal case it sounds like your typical organized crime investigation. You would expect the indictment to have charges for drug dealing, racketeering, murder or something similar. But last week we heard that these were the techniques used to catch the 22 people indicted for violations of … Read more »
But Everyone Else is Doing it
In my hasty post on last week’s FCPA sting operation my focus was on the aggressive use of an undercover operation to catch violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That was big news. It’s the first time that’s happened. The indictments did not disclose the companies involved. It’s now clear that this sting operation … Read more »
DOJ Nets 22 in FCPA Sting
“The largest single investigation and prosecution against individuals in the history of DOJ’s enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” The Department of Justice has gotten serious about the FCPA. “This ongoing investigation is the first large-scale use of undercover law enforcement techniques to uncover FCPA violations and the largest action ever undertaken by the … Read more »
2009 Year-End FCPA Update
In case you missed it, 2009 was full of FCPA enforcement actions and trials. The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission worked hand in hand over the past year bringing actions for FCPA violations. They set a record by bringing more FCPA prosecutions during 2009 than in any prior year in the FCPA’s … Read more »
New Massachusetts Lobbying Law is now in Effect
In mid-2009, the Massachusetts Legislature was rocked by the highly public federal indictments of a state senator and speaker of the Massachusetts House. In response, the legislature passed a sweeping overhaul of its campaign finance, lobbying and government ethics laws. There are new rules in the Commonwealth that went effective on January 1. (Massachusetts is … Read more »
International Anti-Corruption Day
The theme of this year’s observance of the International Anti-Corruption Day is “Don’t let corruption kill development.” “When public money is stolen for private gain, it means fewer resources to build schools, hospitals, roads and water treatment facilities. When foreign aid is diverted into private bank accounts, major infrastructure projects come to a halt. Corruption … Read more »
New Anti-Bribery Compendium
Trace International has launched an online, fully-searchable database containing summaries and analyses of international anti-bribery enforcement actions and investigations in the U.S. and throughout the world. The Trace Compendium summaries are searchable by name or by numerous other criteria, including year, substantive criteria, enforcement authority, and enforcement result. Want the actions involving officials in Thailand? … Read more »
FCPA: Overcoming the Toughest Issues
Bruce Carton and SecurtiesDocket presented this informative webinar. The panelists were: – Hank Walther, Dept. of Justice – Larry Urgenson, Kirkland & Ellis – Elliot Leary, KPMG Forensic – Phil Desing, KPMG Forensic The panel started of with parallel international investigations. This is a new topic because for years there was no other country enforcing … Read more »
No Bribe, Just a Thanks
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Ethics Commission fined Norfolk property developer Jack Scott for violating section 3 of M.G.L. c. 268A, the conflict of interest law, by offering an illegal gift to a municipal employee. Scott offered a free week’s stay at his fly-fishing cabin in Pennsylvania to the chairman of the Norfolk Conservation Commission at … Read more »