Welcome to Dorsey & Whitney’s monthly Anti-Corruption Digest. In this digest, we draw together news of enforcement activity throughout the world and aim to reduce your information overload. Our London, Minneapolis, New York and Washington DC offices edit the digest and select the most important material so that you can use this digest as a single source of information.
In this edition, among the many topics discussed, we report on the resolution of an administrative action against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co by the SEC, relating to alleged corrupt payments in Kenya and Angola to secure approximately $14 million in private and public contracts; the dismissal of a shareholder suit against Avon, on the grounds that the case lacked federal jurisdiction and that allowing the claims to continue would be equivalent to recognizing a private right of action under the FCPA; and an increasing trend in recent SEC enforcement to combat commercial bribery by enforcing the accounting provisions of the FCPA.
Reports from the UK include the FCA fining a former compliance officer of the Bank of Beirut (UK) Ltd for allegedly providing the FCA with misleading information as to the bank’s compliance with directions to address concerns that the firm was being used for financial crime; the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption, calling for both UK and US authorities to investigate Soco International following accusations that contractors of the oil company allegedly paid-off armed rebel groups in the course of its work in Africa; and reports that upmarket London properties are being targeted by criminals and foreign officials as a means to launder “billions of pounds” of corruptly gained funds.
Global updates include reports of two former IT executives at Australia’s Commonwealth Bank allegedly receiving bribes in excess of $1.5 million to help a US based technology company win a computing contract; allegations that Rolls-Royce paid bribes to an agent of Petrobas, Brazil’s state owned oil company, in return for a $100 million contract; the indictment of 64 individuals by Greek authorities for alleged bribery offences relating to corporate dealings from 1992 to 2006 between Siemens AG and Hellenic Telecommunications; reports that a former head of the Supreme Court of Panama has been sentenced to five years in prison on corruption charges; a criminal case against the Governor of the Sakhalin region in Russia following his receipt of an alleged $5.6 million bribe; plus anti-corruption developments in Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Kenya and more from around the globe.
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Corruption issues are also addressed in the Anti-Fraud Network’s newsletters: see http://www.antifraudnetwork.com for current and archived material; see also the Computer Fraud website at http://computerfraud.us and SEC Actions at http://www.secactions.com.
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