The business of corruption, or is the business of business corruption?
| Pages | 202-213 |
| Date | 01 April 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13590790610660917 |
| Published date | 01 April 2006 |
| Author | Henry H. Rossbacher |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
The business of corruption, or is
the business of business
corruption?
Henry H. Rossbacher
The Rossbacher Firm, Los Angeles, California, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine legal issues in the USA in relation to corruption
involving American corporations.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews of actions by the US government, lobbyists
and courts with commentary by the author.
Findings – All is not well.
Originality/value – The paper presents a personal review of US legal issues relating to corruption.
Keywords Corruption, Bribery, Crimes, UnitedStates of America
Paper type Viewpoint
The topic of the symposium in 1996 was Corruption. At that time Americans were
strenuously trying to explain to our European colleagues that the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act (FCPA)[1] was not an imperialistic edict aimed at Americans dominating
world markets. The British, in particular, were leading the charge in opposing any
extension of the act to Europe. My talk on that occasion was an attempt to demonstrate
that the FCPA had begun as a purely domestic reaction of outrage at revelations that
American companies had engaged in systematic and egregious corruption of foreign
officials. I attempted to place the act in the context of American domestic
anti-corruption legislation and rules, pointing out that far from being a competitive
attack on foreign countries’ business, the FCPA was aimed directly at the illicit conduct
of American businesses, not foreign competitors[2].
Much of the symposium was spent debating the problem of international
corruption. European nations were proposing various measures to apply to their own
countries. More significantly there were proposals for a truly international convention
dealing with trans-national business corruption on the table. Bribery of public officials
was the hot topic of the day. In addition to much table pounding about sovereignty, the
virtues of various countries’ businessmen and co mpetitive strategies, serious
discussions took place throughout the symposium both of appropriate terms and of
the very real evils of bribery and corruption. Indeed, it was clearly brought out that
corruption was not merely wrong, but a threat to countries’ national security. The
threat was and is the creation and continuation of criminal states.
That seems a long time ago. Since, that symposium, the reach of the FCPA itself
was greatly enhanced by amendment in 1998 to encompass acts by foreign nationals
and entities on US soil which cause an offending, corrupt payment to be made. Further,
it is now clear that American companies may be held criminally responsible for the
acts of their foreign subsidiaries. The act’s expanded provisions also now cover corrupt
payments by Americans wherever made. The act has expanded to meet the times.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1359-0790.htm
JFC
13,2
202
Journal of Financial Crime
Vol. 13 No. 2, 2006
pp. 202-213
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1359-0790
DOI 10.1108/13590790610660917
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