In a case that illustrates the extensive reach of the government’s enforcement arm under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a New York federal judge ruled last week that the Securities and Exchange Commission may go forward with civil bribery charges against three former executives of Hungarian telecommunications company Magyar Telekom for violations of the FCPA.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...