News
U.K. Ministry Guidance Weakens Anti-Bribery Law, Say Former British Officials
By Brian Monroe
printThe United Kingdom's law enforcement arm said Wednesday that it would not pursue convictions under a new anti-bribery law against companies and individuals with a limited presence in the country. The disclosure by the U.K. Ministry of Justice came as part of compliance guidance on the law, passed in April, which criminalized bribing foreign officials to obtain business contracts. Implementation of the law, which also banned so-called "facilitation payments," was originally slated for April but was pushed back after British companies complained that it was overly severe. On Wednesday, the ministry said that non-British companies without a "demonstrable business presence"...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
The Bank of England reportedly exerts "strong pressure" on Russia's second largest bank, an arrested Zetas leader's sons tweet incriminating photographs, and more, in this week's news roundup.
British companies hoping for a compliance reprieve from the U.K.'s key law against bribery could have a long wait ahead of them, with no promise of getting what they've asked for, say attorneys.
U.K. leaders intend to review whether facilitation should be legal again, CFATF warns countries about the risks of Belize, Guyana and Dominica, and more, in this week's news roundup.
An intergovernmental group Tuesday criticized Austria, Spain and the Netherlands for failing to sufficiently investigate and convict individuals and corporations that bribe foreign officials.
Many large British companies are putting the final touches on their compliance efforts ahead of a Friday enforcement deadline of the country's broad, new anti-bribery law, say U.K. consultants.
Financial institutions operating in the U.K. could be among the first companies fined under a new British anti-bribery law, according to speakers at an anti-money laundering conference in Amsterdam Monday.
A Russian law that prohibits corporate bribes and raises the ceiling on punitive fines isn't likely to impede businesses from offering illegal incentives to win lucrative contracts, say political observers.
A stringent new British anti-bribery law will be implemented before the end of the year despite concerns from the business community and the Cameron government, according to the measure's authors.
Senate panel members Tuesday criticized the U.S. Justice Department's enforcement of a U.S. anti-bribery law even as representatives from the commercial sector asked Congress to better shield it from penalties.
U.S. financial institutions and other companies will have additional anti-money laundering and anti-bribery monitoring duties when a new U.K. law takes effect next year, according to a U.K. regulator.
Nigerian politicians deposited millions of dollars obtained through bribes into accounts at some of the U.K.'s most prestigious banks, which subsequently faced no apparent regulatory penalties, a British advocacy group said Monday.
The departure Friday of the Justice Department's top enforcer of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act will mark an end to an era, not a slowdown in penalties against violators, say analysts.
The rise in U.S. prosecutions of companies that bribe foreign officials won't likely plateau for another four or five years, when European countries are expected to further clamp down on the crime, according to the former assistant chief for the Fraud Section of the Justice Department.
A British anti-bribery bill expected to pass this month could increase the likelihood that U.S. financial institutions and other companies will face sizable monetary penalties for overseas deals, say consultants.
It can be a rare but difficult moral dilemma for bank compliance officers: what to do when you know that a client wants to wire a ransom payment to kidnappers, a transaction that technically abets a crime.
Global corruption is antithetical to economic growth, according to Transparency International, an organization known for its yearly publication of the Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks 180 countries by their levels of corruption.
The United Nations and World Bank estimate that $45 billion a year is lost to corruption, which contributes to poverty, disease and environmental destruction, according to Jack Smith of the Caux Roundtable, a group that will try to recover pilfered assets when it launches in January.
The conviction of a former U.S. congressman on corruption charges is more than just another public scandal, say white-collar crime analysts. It's a sign that the United States is increasingly willing to levy a 1977 anti-bribery law against individuals, they say.
Financial institutions are increasingly renegotiating or dropping planned business deals over concerns that they might violate U.S. anti-bribery laws, according to a survey released Monday.
The U.K.'s chief financial services regulator fined a London-based insurance firm nearly $8 million for poor controls of overseas payments sent to the Middle East, eastern Europe and Asia.