Look for the U.S. government to further intensify its efforts to combat transnational bribery and corruption, broadening them to include more government agencies in addition to the Justice Department, a top government prosecutor said.
“It’s my view that the U.S. government – and not just the Justice Department, but the U.S. government more broadly – is going to focus on international corruption in a more comprehensive and even more rigorous way than it has in the past,” said Mark Mendelsohn, the Justice Department’s lead criminal prosecutor for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
Speaking to an audience of corporate compliance officers at the Dow Jones Global Ethics Summit in New York City, Mendelsohn said the increased activity would reflect President Obama’s “well-known and strongly-held views about the corrosive effect of corruption on the role of development and the rule of law.”
FCPA prosecutions have exploded in the past five years, with the Department of Justice bringing a total of twenty-six enforcement actions in 2009 compared to only two in 2006. Earlier this month, British defense contractor BAE agreed to pay fines totaling almost $450 million to settle charges that it had made illegal payments to officials in various countries to obtain contracts. In late 2008, industrial giant Siemens agreed to pay more than $1.6 billion in fines and penalties to settle charges brought under the FCPA.
via US Likely to Broaden Anti-Bribery and Corruption Efforts | Business Ethics.
