The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law targeting businesses that bribe foreign officials, spent the early part of this decade in a slumber. In 2000, there wasn’t a single prosecution, and in 2006, the Justice Department won just $18 million in penalties. Now the law has come roaring back to life, with more than $1 billion in fines this year alone. Recent high-profile cases include guilty pleas from fuel-concern Innospec, for paying kickbacks in Iraq to German automaker Daimler AG; and Jack Stanley, the head of energy consultancy KBR, for bribing Nigerian officials to secure billions in natural-gas contracts. With prosecutions likely to continue—the FBI has doubled the number of agents tasked to FCPA cases—business is responding in kind. Law firms are competing for top FCPA talent, banks financing international deals are insisting on anti-bribery stipulations in contracts, and a new cottage industry of experts has emerged, offering country-by-country advice on gifts and local laws.
via Fines for Foreign Bribes Spike, Drawing Scrutiny – Newsweek.
Daimler to pay $200 mln, end bribery probe-report | Reuters
Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE) agreed to pay about $200 million and two units will enter guilty pleas to resolve a U.S. investigation into whether the German automaker paid bribes to secure overseas business, Bloomberg News said on Friday, citing people familiar with the accord.
Daimler, U.S. Department of Justice the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission representatives had no immediate comment or were not immediately available for comment.
According to the report, the settlement would resolve both a Justice Department probe into whether Daimler violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing government officials, and also a related SEC civil probe.
The charges against the units were not immediately clear.
Government lawyers submitted the settlement for approval by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, the report said, citing the people.
via Daimler to pay $200 mln, end bribery probe-report | Reuters.