All Anti-Bribery articles – Page 43
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Blog
Are anti-bribery experts focusing on the wrong numbers?
To be sure, enforcement data is an important tool for companies to understand their anti-bribery regulatory risks. But relying solely on U.S. enforcement statistics reveals only part of the increasingly complex and multi-layered regulatory landscape that multinationals are facing today. Inside, a look at what can be accomplished when the ...
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BlogHow Qualcomm’s FCPA blunder involved rank incompetency
Hiring the son or daughter of a government official to secure a lucrative business contract is clearly out of bounds. But hiring somebody who was specifically rejected from an interview process as being unfit for the job in question, a scenario recently played out at Qualcomm and its China-based operations ...
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Blog
Report: Europe makes up majority of U.S. bribery investigations
The majority of U.S. investigations and enforcement actions concerning alleged bribery of foreign officials conducted against non-U.S. companies and individuals involved companies or individuals from Europe, according to a new report issued by anti-bribery group TRACE International. Companies or individuals from Europe made up approximately 71 percent of U.S. bribery ...
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Blog
Sweett Group to pay £2.25 million for Bribery Act violations
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office last month sentenced and ordered the Sweett Group to pay £2.25 million ($3.21 million) to resolve an SFO investigation into the company’s activities in the United Arab Emirates. The conviction and punishment represents the first under Section 7 of the Bribery Act and offers many ...
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Blog
Nordion to Pay SEC $375,000 for books and records violations of FCPA
Canada-based global life sciences company Nordion last week agreed to pay a $375,000 civil penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission for violating the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The case offers numerous lessons for compliance officers responsible for accurate books ...
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Blog
Petrobras refinery explosion reveals poor compliance of a different kind
When corruption-plagued Brazilian energy giant Petrobras overpaid for a Houston-area refinery by some $950 million, it raised more than a few eyebrows. And when that refinery suffered a large explosion and fire recently, it showed that failure to practice good safety and failure to practice good business ethics go hand-in-hand.
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Blog
Mondelez International faces FCPA probe
Mondelez International, the U.S. parent of Mondelez India, recently disclosed in a securities filing that is being investigated by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act related to its operations in India.
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Blog
Nortek FCPA investigation costs reach $2.3 million
Nortek, a maker of home security and thermostat systems, said this week in a securities filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has incurred $2.3 million in legal and other professional services costs relating to potential improper payments made by its Chinese manufacturing unit.
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Blog
Qualcomm to pay SEC $7.5 million for hiring practices
Digital telecommunications maker Qualcomm this week reached a $7.5 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by hiring relatives of Chinese government officials. These officials were in positions to decide whether to select Qualcomm’s mobile technology products amid ...
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Blog
Another bank under FCPA scrutiny for its hiring practices
Financial services providers face unique corruption risks when seeking to win business in international markets. This includes a traditional form of back-scratching: the hiring of children or other close family members of prominent foreign officials. Only now the SEC has made it clear that such practices can and will invite ...
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Article
Compliance lessons from VimpelCom
Image: Ethics, compliance, and audit executives have yet another real-life bribery case to add to their growing library of epic anti-corruption compliance failures—this one resulting in the sixth largest Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action of all time. “This case demonstrates a failure of internal controls at every turn,” says ...
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Blog
Olympus to pay $623.2 million for kickback scheme
Olympus Corporation of the Americas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan-based Olympus, will pay $623.2 million to resolve criminal charges and civil claims relating to a scheme to pay kickbacks to doctors and hospitals—the largest total amount paid in U.S. history for violations involving the Anti-Kickback Statute by a medical device ...
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Blog
FIFA dribbles up the pitch toward reform
As FIFA continues to battle its landmark corruption scandal, it has elected a new President and passed a series of structural and process reforms to bring the organization into the 21st century and demonstrate to U.S. authorities that it really is going to change from its prior culture. But is ...
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BlogCiti receives subpoena in FIFA probe
A Citigroup securities filing says the company is under investigation in connection with the bribery, corruption, and money laundering scandal that toppled leadership of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the international governing body of professional soccer. As Compliance Week previously reported, financial institutions can expect to be in the ...
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Blog
SEC probing hiring practices of HSBC and many other banks
London-based HSBC said in an earnings release last week that it is one of several banks being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its hiring practices in Asia. Hiring a family member or friend of a government official violates the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act if the intent ...
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Article
U.K. ruling expands scope of anti-corruption enforcement
Image: In a first-of-its-kind ruling, the Criminal Division of the U.K. Court of Appeal ruled that bribery of foreign officials was, indeed, illegal prior to 2002, marking a notable victory for the Serious Fraud Office in its escalating battle against bribery and corruption. ““Anybody thinking that prosecution under these pre-Bribery ...
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Blog
Justice Department concludes $795M FCPA action against VimpelCom
Image: Dutch telecom giant Vimpelcom will be hit with nearly $800M in fines, penalties, and disgorgement of profits and prejudgment interest from its huge FCPA case where it spent millions to bribe its way into the Uzbekistan marketplace. Tom Fox looks at the details of the Justice Department’s FPCA enforcement ...
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Article
Volkswagen: A lesson in implicit versus explicit rules and regulations
As uncertainty swirls around what Volkswagen executives knew or did not know about the company’s emissions cheating, this much seems certain: To achieve accountability going forward, Volkswagen executives must commit to creating a corporate culture in which employees and executives follow the same codes of conduct. Inside, guest columnist JTI ...
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BlogVimpelCom to pay $795 million for FCPA violations
Amsterdam-based VimpelCom, a global telecommunication services provider, and its wholly owned Uzbek subsidiary, Unitel, yesterday reached a combined $795 million settlement with the U.S. and Dutch prosecutors for paying bribes to a government official in Uzbekistan, making it one of the largest global foreign bribery resolutions ever. VimpelCom will pay ...
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Blog
General Cable sets aside $28 million for bribery case
General Cable said last week in an earnings release that it has set aside an estimated charge of $28 million that it believes the Securities and Exchange Commission likely will disgorge from profits derived from sales tainted by improper payments made in several countries. As previously disclosed, General Cable said ...