The recent Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action against BHP Billiton on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations provides some clear guidance for the compliance professional about the difference between having a paper compliance program in place and the actual doing of compliance. What’s more, the enforcement action demonstrates why having a compliance defense added to the FCPA would not move forward the law’s goals of furthering anti-corruption and anti-bribery across the globe.
The facts underlying the BHP Billiton case relate to the company’s program for client entertainment at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Recognizing the high risk of an FCPA violation in paying for foreign government officials to travel to, attend, and be feted at the Olympics, BHP Billiton established a risk management solution in the form of an in-house Olympic Sponsorship Steering Committee (OSSC) and Global Ethics Panel Sub-Committee, together with a specific set of written requirements for identifying and approving requests for travel and entertainment from it business operations.
