Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

As a result of SEC investigations in the mid-1970's, over 400 U.S. companies admitted making ..... or illegal payments in excess of $300 million to foreign government officials, politicians, and political parties.

The abuses ran the ..... from bribery of high foreign officials to secure some type of favorable action by a foreign government to so-called facilitating payments that allegedly were made to ensure that government functionaries discharged certain ministerial or clerical duties.

Congress enacted the FCPA to ..... a halt to the bribery of foreign officials and to restore public confidence in the integrity of the American business systemm, and it was intended to have and has had an enormous impact on the way American firms do business.

Several firms that paid bribes to foreign officials have been the subject of criminal and civil enforcement actions, resulting in large fines and suspension and ..... from federal procurement contracting, and their employees and officers have gone to jail.

Following the passage of the FCPA, the Congress became concerned that American companies were operating at a disadvantage compared to foreign companies who ..... paid bribes and, in some countries, were permitted to deduct the cost of such bribes as business expenses on their taxes.

Accordingly, in 1997, the United States and thirty-three other countries signed the OECD Convention on ..... Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

The antibribery provisions of the FCPA make it unlawful for a U.S. person, and certain foreign issuers of securities, to make a corrupt payment to a foreign official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business ....., or directing business to, any person.

Since 1998, they also apply to foreign firms and persons who take any act in ..... of such a corrupt payment while in the United States.

The FCPA also requires companies whose securities are listed in the United States to ..... its accounting provisions.

These provisions, designed to operate in ..... with the antibribery provisions of the FCPA, require corporations to make and keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the corporation and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls.