The recent revelations about McKinsey & Company, SAP, and KMPG in South Africa over possible allegations of corruption have driven home a truism that many in the compliance space have known for some time: South Africa has become one of the most corrupt countries on earth. When you couple a structural requirement that is in every government contract with a non-South African company for a local content partner with an already corrupt system, you get a recipe for rampant corruption. Such would appear to be the situation in South Africa today.

Thomas Fox has practiced law for over 40 years. Tom writes the daily award-winning blog, the FCPA Compliance and Ethics blog and founded the Compliance Podcast Network. Tom leads the discussion on AI in...