Data privacy and corporate transparency will be two of the top European issues on the agenda for compliance executives in 2015. And even if we have to wait another year to see a big corporate enforcement action under the U.K. Bribery Act, there are other reasons to fear Britain’s white-collar crime prosecutors. The year ahead will be busy; details inside.
Anti-Bribery
Posted inAnti-Bribery
OECD Raises Concerns Over Ireland’s Anti-Bribery Efforts
Ireland still has a long way to go toward implementing and enforcing the bribery of foreign public officials involving international business transactions. That’s according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Working Group’s phase-three report on the implementation of the OECD’s Anti-Bribery Convention in Ireland. According to the report, Ireland has not prosecuted a […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Quick & Easy Guidance on FCPA Programs
Good news for compliance professionals who have an addiction to anti-bribery guidance: two of the more notable names in the field have just provided a fresh fix. Tom Fox and Jon Rydberg, both ex-compliance officers who subsequently became independent consultants on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, have just published Global Anti-Bribery Leadership: Practical FCPA and […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
KPMG Settles Netherlands Charges Dating to 2000
KPMG in the Netherlands has agreed to pay 7 million euros to settle charges involving three former audit partners accused of helping conceal bribery payments for a former client, Ballast Nedam, more than 10 years ago. KPMG reached the agreement with the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office, which investigated the charges for financial years 2000 through […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Top 10 Global Compliance Trends to Watch in 2014
Expect 2014 to be a busy year, full of regulatory and enforcement developments in the European Union, China, South America, and elsewhere that will have a big effect on U.S. companies. A new European Parliament will be elected in May with a new European Commission appointed in October. Politicians, regulators, and Eurocrats will be in […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Analytics, Whistleblowers Drive Surge in Enforcement Activity
On the enforcement front, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other government agencies are sharpening their knives for 2014. An increase in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases, hordes of whistleblower complaints, and a renewed focus by the government on financial and accounting fraud caused big compliance headaches in 2013. Expect those […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Five Big Compliance Events in 2013
You might want to dismiss 2013 as an irritating year for corporate compliance, marked by botched healthcare reform, a government shutdown, litigation that left new regulatory efforts in limbo, and the like. And you’d be right: all of them were distractions, whose significance over will fade to nothing. I’d be irritated by that too. Still, […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Court: Shareholder Lawsuit Against Walmart Can Proceed
Walmart’s legal troubles continue to escalate. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit last week refused to grant Walmart’s request for a stay of proceedings before a federal court in Arkansas, effectively ruling that lawsuits against Walmart may move forward in both federal court and state court as the retail giant continues to […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Rolls-Royce Faces SFO Bribery Probe
Aerospace and defense company Rolls-Royce confirmed this week that the U.K. Serious Fraud Office has launched a formal criminal investigation relating to allegations of foreign bribery and corruption. In December 2012, Rolls-Royce informed the SFO that it had discovered “matters of concern” in China, Indonesia, and other overseas markets. “We have been informed by the […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
ADM to Pay $54.3M for Violating FCPA
Food processing giant Archer Daniels Midland Company has agreed to pay a total of $54.3 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice to settle civil and criminal charges over violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company’s swift actions, however, also earned it a non-prosecution agreement. On Dec. 20, […]
