This article was originally published by LexisNexis and is reproduced with permission. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been fined £300 million and five of its employees given suspended prison sentences in China for bribery – but is this the end of the matter? What impact will the verdicts have on other multinational companies conducting business in China? … Continue Reading
1. New law or regulation State level: No developments. Local level (Beijing & Shanghai): No developments. Communist Party Rules: (1) On January 16, 2014, the Communist Party of China (“CPC”) Central Committee issued the Regulation on Selection and Appointment of the Party and Government Leaders (the “Regulation”), which took effect on the same day and … Continue Reading
New law or regulation State level: (1) It was reported on 8 December 2013 that the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (“CPC”) and the General Office of the State Council jointly issued the Provisions on Administration of Domestic Official Reception by Party and Government Organs” (the “Provisions”) to … Continue Reading
1. New law or regulation State level: On November 25, 2013, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly issued the Regulation to Ban Official Extravagance (the “Regulation”), which regulate the management of funds, official travel, official receptions, official vehicles, and official conferences, etc. According to the Regulation, the … Continue Reading
1. New law or regulation State level: No developments On September 23, 2013, the Ministry of Finance, the National Government Affairs Administration, and the Administration of Government Affairs, directly under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (“CPC”), jointly issued the Administrative Measures on Conferences of Central and State Departments (“Measures”), which target … Continue Reading
The most recent FCPA and anticorruption enforcement developments involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are summarized below. Thanks, as always, to Squire Sanders’ Shanghai Office for monitoring these enforcement actions. 1. New law or regulation State level: (1) It was reported on July 6, 2013 that the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (“SPP”) of China issued … Continue Reading
Many thanks to Martin Mladek and Ivan Chalupa of Squire Sanders’ Prague office for preparing this article. British and US Antibribery Laws Affect Czech Companies Both at Home and Abroad. It could be argued that the Czech Republic is still awaiting its first considerable bribery case. As a result, the battle against corruption in the … Continue Reading
Transparency International has recently published its 8th annual progress report on compliance with the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, adopted in 1997, which requires each signatory country to make foreign bribery a crime. In relation to enforcement, of the 37 signatory countries included in the report, (which … Continue Reading
On November 14, 2012, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released A Resource Guide to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In its 10 chapters, the Guide provides an overview of the current state of the FCPA as interpreted by the courts, the DOJ and the SEC. In addition to setting … Continue Reading
On November 8, 2012, Judge James Selna (C.D. Cal.) sentenced Stuart Carson, former CEO of Control Components Inc. (“CCI”), and his wife, Hong Rose Carson, the company’s former sales director, for their roles in the company’s violation of the FCPA and Travel Act. In 2009, CCI pleaded guilty to a three-count criminal information that charged … Continue Reading
On August 16, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a Complaint against Oracle Corporation for alleged FCPA violations stemming from actions by the software giant’s Indian subsidiary, and Oracle has agreed to pay $2 million to settle the matter. According to the SEC’s Complaint (which can be found here), from 2005 to 2007, certain … Continue Reading
The most recent FCPA and anticorruption enforcement developments involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are summarized below. Thanks as always to Squire Sanders Shanghai Office for monitoring these enforcement actions. New Law or Regulations State level: (1) Regulations on the Management of Governmental Affairs On July 9, the Chinese Sate Council promulgated the new … Continue Reading
On July 17, 2012, Nordam Group, Inc. (“Nordam”) an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (“MRO”) service provider based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, entered into a three-year non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the DOJ to resolve violations of the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions. Conduct According to the NPA, from 1999 until 2008, Nordam, its subsidiaries and affiliates paid bribes … Continue Reading
Orthofix International N.V. (“Orthofix”) entered into a consent to final judgment with the SEC and a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ to resolve FCPA violations by its Mexican subsidiary. Although the DOJ enforcement action involved a criminal information which remains sealed until a plea is entered in open court, the deferred prosecution agreement indicates … Continue Reading
On July 6, 2012, Patrick Joseph was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, and ordered to forfeit $955,596.69, for his role in the Haiti Teleco bribery scheme. Joseph, a former Director General for telecommunications at the Republic of Haiti’s state-owned national telecommunications company, Telecommunications D’Haiti (Haiti Teleco), had been charged with one … Continue Reading
The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have stressed the need for companies to conduct FCPA due diligence before entering into transactions with third parties or buying another company. The DOJ and SEC have levied stiff fines on companies that have not heeded their advice once violations of the FCPA have been discovered. … Continue Reading
Paul Cosgrove, the former head of worldwide sales at California-based valve manufacturer Control Components Inc. (CCI) pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Cosgrove is the fourth of six company executives to plead guilty to violating or conspiring to violate the FCPA. Cosgrove was previously scheduled to stand trial on June … Continue Reading
Charged by both the SEC and DOJ with violating the FCPA, Indiana-based medical device company Biomet, Inc. (“Biomet”) agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle the charges. The charges arose from SEC and DOJ’s ongoing global investigation into medical device companies bribing publicly-employed physicians. Although the company’s common stock is no longer publicly … Continue Reading
On February 21, 2012 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) sent a letter to the DOJ requesting guidance on “several issues and questions of significant concern to businesses seeking in good faith to comply with the FCPA.” The ILR raised the following issues: “Instrumentalities”: The ILR sought clarification on what types of … Continue Reading
Conduct Following the close of the prosecution’s case on a trial for charges arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), John Joseph O’Shea (“O’Shea”) was acquitted of all substantive FCPA counts, with the court (Southern District of Texas) finding that O’Shea’s conduct could be reasonably explained by lawful motives. O’Shea, a former general manager … Continue Reading
2011 was another banner year for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiating 23 and 25 enforcement actions, respectively, and collecting nearly $355 million and $148 million in fines. Numerous individual defendants were prosecuted under the FCPA, some successfully, and some not … Continue Reading
Magyar Telekom Plc and its majority owner Deutsche Telekom AG have agreed to pay a total of approximately $95 million in penalties arising from alleged violations of the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) stemming from conduct in Macedonia and Montenegro. Conduct Between 2005 and 2006, former executives … Continue Reading
Aon Corp., an Illinois-based world leader in risk management, insurance, and reinsurance brokerage services, has entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement (“NPA”) with the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and has settled a civil action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) stemming from alleged violations of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld Frederic Bourke’s bribery conviction. This decision is the culmination of investigations and court proceedings that began in 2000. Mr. Bourke, who co-founded handbag maker Dooney & Bourke, was convicted in November 2009 for violations under the FCPA after his business partner Viktor Kozeny … Continue Reading
