FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT
1. Discuss the economic and social impact of brides and other similar payments in emerging economies.
Corruption can take many forms and can be found in many countries, but mainly in the emerging ones. The main form of corruption is the bribery in the form of payments demanded by the government or ministry officials in exchange for a favor (granting a service, awarding a business).Corruption affects all the businesses that interfere with the government, but studies have shown that certain industries are more exposed to it. These industries are construction, airline manufacturing, power plants, and oil and gas production. In emerging economies the impact of bribes and other similar payments can affect
…show more content…
Overall new procedures put in place were beneficial for Baker Hughes because they improved compliance and they also improved the company’s business operations. 5. Discuss whether the payments outlined on pages 12 and 13 are foreign corrupt practices.
Yes, I think that the payments outlined on pages 12 and 13 should be considered corrupt practices because of the way they were registered in the company’s books -it was in compliance with the FCPA because of the anti-bribery provision and the books and records provision.
6. Evaluate whether the changes in Exhibits 4 and 5 are likely to stop future foreign corrupt practices at Baker Hughes.
All the changes in Exhibits 4 and 5 are related to the agents that Baker Hughes will use in the future. The changes in Exhibits 4 and 5 are likely to stop future corrupt practices at Baker Hughes because they will provide the company with more information about the agents that they are about to hire (information that they didn’t have before). The information is referring to agents’ background, competence, reputation, their intentions, experience, skills, and their integrity and willingness to comply with FCPA. So Baker Hughes will be able to prevent and eliminate any acts of corruptions.
7. Discuss how the compliance and governance changes are likely to impact the future profits and shareholder value at Baker Hughes.
The compliance and governance changes implemented at Baker Hughes
Discuss the alternate FTC analysis that is applied to such cases if they are suspect but not found to be per se illegal.
In today’s ever changing and competitive modern world of business, it is critical for the companies to have activities internationally. In order to prohibit frauds and illegal activities, several acts and documents have been elaborated. One of the documents is Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that has been enacted in the 1970’s, as a result of SEC investigation of several U.S. companies that made illegal payments to foreign governmental officials, politicians, and political parties (Barnes 73). The FCPA had a critical impact on the way U.S. firms do business. Companies that did not comply with FCPA have been subject of criminal and civil enforcement actions that later resulted in huge fines and sentences for
Consider journal entry that recognized $35 million of revenue in 2001 from the EDS contract based on WorlCom’s expectation that the five-year required cumulative minimum payment would not be met. Based on your own analysis of GAAP, explain the propriety to impropriety of this journal entry.
The first case that was involved CFPOA is R. v. Griffiths Energy International . In January 2013, the Griffiths Energy was pled guilty to bribery offence under section 3(1), (b) of the CFPOA . The offender paid over USD 2 million to obtain a consulting agreement of oil contracts in the Republic of Chad. Griffiths Energy paid the bribe to a company owned by the wife of the foreign ambassador as well as a number of founder shares. The article of “A New Era of Canadian Anti-Corruption Enforcement?” mentions more detail of the court case. On September 15, 2009, the Griffiths Energy offered the bribe to Chad Oil Counsulting the statement of facts disclosed that the Griffiths Energy LLC owned by Ms. Niam, the wife of Chad’s Canadian, Ambassador Mahamoud Adam Bechir, and
It is clear from the case study that Alistair knows the contract is unorthodox. The problem he faces is whether he should overlook the bribe or report it to the board. The board of directors expects Alistair to tell the truth and report the bribe because of: his position as Chief Legal Officer, the board has a very strong ethics policy and they are wary of unethical activities.
The primary flow of silver had severe effects economically and socially from 15000-1750. Some effects are the economic imbalance which caused social suffering, the social anarchy of robbing and more, and when the economic imbalance caused them to be active within the trade business which helped their economy. Documents 1, and 3 show the social effects that evolved from economic aspects. In document 1 it shows that the demand of silver had effects on the poor and also the rich. The source of document 1 was Ye Chunji, who was a county official during the Ming dynasty.
This review will address several issues associated with the legal, business, and ethics related to the case. First, it will describe the legality of the case by reviewing the
The criminal complaint, filed in federal court in New York, offers the clearest view yet of one of the biggest cases of alleged insider dealing ever. In its lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, the Commission alleges that the defendants violated the antifraud, periodic reporting, record keeping, and internal controls
Evidence of bribery or erroneous accounting is enough proof for the government to file a case against an individual or company regardless of intent, under the FCPA laws (Clayton, 2011). There are three types of improper violations for the anti-bribery provision and they include: the issuer, domestic concern, the foreign national and businesses. The issuers are the ones that are registered in the US or are required to file Security and Exchange Commission. Domestic concern is any person or business that has their place of business in the US or is under the US law. Lastly, the foreign nationals and business in which deals with corrupt payments that are made in the United States, there are also the third parties and agents that are as well included and have the same conditions apply to them as they do to the issuer, domestic concern, and the foreign national and businesses. The second provision that is involved with the FCPA is the Accounting provision and that consist of contracts enforcing Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC enforces the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by bringing the civil actions against the issuers and their officers, directors, employees, and agents. FCPA has two accounting requirements that are recordkeeping and internal controls. The recordkeeping is there to ensure that the books, records, and accounts are held at the standards of what the company should be at. This is designed to cover business
If section 42 is not chilling enough, consider the definition of "corrupt conduct". It includes conduct by an employee or contractor or consultant that is judged to be "abusing his or her position".
Many companies have ethical decisions that need to be and sometimes those decisions can affect many individuals or just a few. Making ethical decisions may be placed solely on one person’s shoulders or it may be a decision that multiple individuals must be involved in. There are several ethical issues in the Richardson Drilling case that should be considered. For instance, bribery, purchasing substandard parts with lack of disclosure that causes injuries, and revealing sensitive information. One potential ethical concern that could arise has to do with ongoing health insurance and the employer’s responsibility.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) evolved from investigations by the Office of the Special Prosecutor that provided evidence of illegal acts perpetrated by U.S. firms in foreign lands. More than 400 U.S. companies admitted to making questionable payments to various foreign governments and political parties as part of an amnesty program (U.S. Department of Justice http://www.usdoj.gov). Given the environment of the 1970s and the proliferation of white-collar crimes (e.g., insider trading, bribery, false financial statements, etc.), particularly the payments made to foreign officials by corporations, Congress felt obligated to introduce legislation that led to the act. Congress 's objective was to restore confidence in the manner U.S. companies’ transacted business.
Each of these jurisdictions works together to keep aspects of FCPA from being violated. This law is not always prohibiting all payments to the foreign officials. The FCPA has an exception for anti-bribery prohibitions and that is called “ routine government action.” This exception is also given the names “facilitating” or “ grease payment.” The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act defines this “routine government action” as for a foreign official to perform in obtaining permits, licenses, or other official documents that enable then to do business in that country, processing government papers such as visa and work orders, protection services and conducting inspections, and anything that has similar nature (6). The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) has two affirmative defenses and they consist of assertion that payment in question was lawful under the laws of the foreign country, and the assertion that the payment was valued a bona fide expenditure (6). This affirmative defense is aimed to be for the issuer, domestic concern, or other person. In this affirmative defense there must be some type of written law authorizing or supporting the payment. The penalties for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are different from the provision that they fall under. For an individual and it is from the anti bribery
6. Evaluate whether the changes in Exhibits 4 and 5 are likely to stop future foreign corrupt practices at Baker Hughes.
This essay will discuss the Supreme Court decision in FHR European Ventures LLP and others v Cedar Capital Partners LLC (Cedar) . The issue in this case was whether a bribe or secret commission accepted by an agent is held on constructive trust for his principal. This topic is a “relentless and seemingly endless debate” , as Sir Terence Etherton described, and that the “remedy awarded has vacillated for the last 200-odd years” . The major reason for the debate is because the principal will have propriety claim as opposed to a mere equitable compensation, if the bribe or commission is held on a constructive trust . The principal will be in a much more advantageous position if he was held to have propriety