Don’t Believe the Hype on Corporate Bribery
In a rousing speech last fall in Washington, D.C., Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer called “fighting corruption around the world” a current “top priority” of the Department of Justice. He described how the Justice Department uses the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which criminalizes bribes to foreign officials and shoddy records and controls, as a crucial weapon in that mission. He spoke movingly about how festering small-time corruption caused a young Tunisian man to set himself on fire, igniting the protests that led to the Arab Spring.
Back at home, tales of foreign corruption and bribery have dominated the business pages. This past week, the New York Times broke the story about how executives at Wal-Mart shut down an internal investigation into bribes in Mexico. Prosecutors are now investigating the retail giant, and it may have taken a hit to its reputation already, but how seriously do prosecutors take corporate malfeasance? This week, News Corp was said to exhibit “willful blindness” by British lawmakers reporting on the phone hacking scandal, and since that conduct allegedly involved British journalists paying bribes to British officials for tips on stories, it could violate the FCPA. News Corp. is currently under investigation for FCPA violations.