For almost 40 years, prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), enacted in 1977 in response to widespread corporate bribery scandals, were rare. In the past few years, FCPA prosecutions have exploded, landing high-profile executives in prison and netting the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission almost a billion dollars in penalties.
There are an estimated 120 pending FCPA investigations. Several factors have caused this, including increased penetration of U.S. companies into countries like oil-rich Nigeria, where bribes are expected; the Patriot Act of 2001, which connects bribing foreign officials to the advancement of terrorist activity; the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which makes senior executives of public companies accountable for the criminal activities of the company; a heightened sensitivity to FCPA violations with mergers; and a significant increase in voluntary disclosures.
While these causes have increased investigations, governments will keep pursuing corrupt business practices for one very simple reason–it's lucrative.
[continued] Investigating The FCPA – Forbes.com.
