All anti-corruption articles – Page 5
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BlogArmada Group responds to Unaoil investigation; threatens legal action
Yet another company entangled in the massive media-leaked bribery and corruption scandal surrounding Monaco-based Unaoil has come forward, refuting the allegations and threatening legal action. Jaclyn Jaeger reports.
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KBR ‘cooperating’ in Unaoil investigation
Engineering and construction company KBR confirmed in a quarterly report last week that it’s been contacted by the Department of Justice in connection with the massive media-leaked bribery and corruption scandal surrounding Monaco-based Unaoil. Jaclyn Jaeger reports.
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Don’t put illegal conduct in power point slide presentations
“Death by PowerPoint” is a typical description of really poor presentation technique, but it might just be a way to describe how some companies accidentally self-report their own corruption. Tom Fox has more.
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In Brazil, accountability has to start somewhere
The effort to unseat embattled Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is receiving criticism because it is really an effort by her even more corrupt rivals to grab power. While that may be correct, does it matter, asks Editor Bill Coffin. Or is it just a handy excuse for giving Rousseff and ...
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France introduces anti-corruption bill
France’s Finance Minister Michel Sapin introduced a proposed anti-corruption bill, Sapin II, to the French government last month that in many respects is inspired by anti-corruption laws already in place in the United States and United Kingdom. The bill, for example, “provides for the offense of corruptly influencing a foreign ...
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ArticleMossack Fonseca leak prompts global compliance crackdown
While politicians draw fire for their connections to shell companies, regulators and legislators are threatening to take action. CW’s Joe Mont says to expect plenty of renewed scrutiny on beneficial ownership data, attacks on U.S. incorporation laws, and a focus on how firms conduct due diligence on third parties, business ...
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Blog
New Justice Department guidance and FCPA Pilot Program
When the DoJ speaks, chief compliance officers should listen—especially when the talks center on enforcement. The agency has launched a pilot program for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement that details three areas of self-disclosure to be required by companies going forward. If a company meets all three areas, it could ...
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Blog
Will Olympus see FCPA trouble in China?
Trouble seems to follow Japan-based Olympus. The company, which admitted in 2011 to a $1.7 billion accounting fraud, is once again facing corruption allegations. Olympus hired China-based Anyuanto to help turn it around, despite the fact that Anyuan’s chairman had previously been convicted of fraud; Olympus’ contract wasn’t with Anyuan ...
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Brazilian corruption investigation goes supernova
As billionaire construction magnate Marcelo Odebrecht prepares to turn state’s evidence in the corruption investigation that covers Petrobras, Odebrecht SA, and the Brazilian presidency itself, it seems that we might finally get some insight on just how pervasive Brazil’s so-called “cartel of corruption” really was. Is anybody ready to ...
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The Greek Culture of Corruption
Envelopes stuffed with cash and entire industries poised to take action against the first sign of whistleblowing are just two of the hallmarks of the endemic corruption that bedevils the entire Greek economy. What can be done when compliance isn’t just absent in a country, but actively avoided as a ...
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Blog
U.K. Printing Company to Pay £2.2 Million in Bribery Case
The Southwark Crown Court in London last week ordered U.K. printing company Smith and Ouzman to pay a total of £2.2 million for making corrupt payments. The sentence and conviction followed a four-year investigation by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office.
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Petrobras Cancels Drilling Services Contract With Ensco
U.K.-based Ensco said this week in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its customer, Brazil state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras, cancelled its contract for a drilling services contract because of alleged irregularities with respect to contracting prior to the company’s acquisition of Pride International in 2011.
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Some Costs of Corruption
Image: A recent Financial Times article says that non-U.S. corruption scandals have outpaced those which are U.S.-centric and, FT points out, the companies at the heart of these scandals fared pretty badly from their own transgressions. Inside, FCPA blogger Tom Fox examines the cases of Volkswagen, whose emissions fraud has ...
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Europe and Petrobras—What Has a Car Wash Wrought?
Image: The scope of the Petrobras corruption scandal is literally worldwide. Now, reports the Financial Times, Rolls Royce has become embroiled in the Brazilian national energy company’s “Operation Car Wash” snafu (dubbed so because the investigation literally started with a car wash), and is currently under investigation by the ...
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The UN, Corruption, and Internal Investigations
Image: Another corrupt scandal hit the United Nations recently. The claim was made that a former General Assembly president had engaged in receiving bribes and other corruption from a Chinese businessman (and perhaps others). Other than yet another embarrassment for the United Nations, the allegations are nothing unusual so far. ...
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Volkswagen Scandal Puts Yates Memo to the Test
If ever a case of corporate misconduct could drive the Justice Department to follow through on its new promises to prosecute individuals more vigorously, the emissions scandal at Volkswagen is it. Still, finding individual culpability in the case will be difficult, given its focus on surreptitious software. “Figuring out who ...
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Despite Progress, Anti-Corruption Risks Continue
Last week KPMG released a report on anti-bribery and corruption programs that will surprise nobody: Compliance challenges are growing, and third parties are harder to manage than ever. After nearly a decade of anti-corruption awareness and compliance programs, then, the real question is: Why is anti-bribery still so hard? Inside, ...
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More ABC Angst in Latest Compliance Survey
Image: Fresh news from the world of surveys: Corruption risks have risen sharply in the last few years, and while compliance officers agree that an anti-corruption risk assessment is critical, many still struggle to perform that task well. So says the latest anti-bribery & corruption survey from KPMG. More findings ...
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Global Transparency Failures Endure, Adding Risk
Image: One of the great challenges for U.S. compliance officers as they build global programs is the basic lack of transparency into enforcement information in other countries. Two new reports give a better scope of the problem, even if the picture revealed is not terribly encouraging. “Getting access to information ...
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What’s Behind the Endemic Nature of Bribery: Poverty
Image: For all a company’s efforts to preach anti-corruption compliance worldwide, one ugly fact endures: Too many people in too many countries still need to pay bribes simply to survive. Ethics training has virtually nothing to do with the problem, editor Matt Kelly writes. The real challenge is how we ...