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FCPA: An Initiative to Make Businesses Free from Corruption!

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FCPA: An Initiative to Make Businesses Free from Corruption!

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) was passed in 1977 to deal with concerns over the integrity of U.S. markets after several U.S. firms disclosed paying more than $400 million to foreign government officials. It focuses on Anti Corruption Training for making businesses free from bribes and corruption. 

 

Main Provisions of the FCPA

 

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) has two main provisions: 

 

(1) An anti-bribery provision. This provision makes it a criminal offence for a U.S. citizen or company and certain foreign issuers of securities, to indulge in a corrupt payment to a foreign official for the goal of obtaining or retaining business.

 

(2) An accounting provision. It expects firms with securities listed on stock exchanges in the US to maintain books and records that fairly reflect the transactions and deals of the corporation. They need to assemble and maintain a satisfactory system of internal accounting controls along with Anti Corruption Training in the company. Not only are companies are subject to the laws of the FCPA, but also to employees, shareholders, officers, agents, and directors.

 

FCPA Enforcement 

 

“The government is sort of probing every area where there is an interaction with government officials and then working backwards from there to see if there is a violation, as opposed to starting with the statute … and what it prohibits.”

 

The FCPA enforcement actions remain to be a high preference for the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the DOJ (Department of Justice) for Anti Corruption Training.

 

The recent enforcement actions illustrate that the way a company reacts when suspected violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are found out has a huge impact on whether penalties are imposed by the DOJ and SEC, giving timely detection and inquiry of suspected violations critical. 

 

To Whom does FCPA Apply?


The FCPA pertains to issuers of securities registered on stock exchanges in the United States. It is for all companies established under the laws of the United States or any resident or citizen of the United States. Such firms and individuals are accountable based upon procedures taken within the US comprising wire transfers, telephone calls, interstate travel, and action taken by related entities.

 

Therefore, it is feasible for an issuer or domestic concern to be held accountable for a corrupt payment served by employees operating outside of the United States and using currency located in foreign accounts. Employees, stockholders functioning on behalf of a US company or an issuer, Officers, agents, and directors, can be held liable under the FCPA. They will have to face charges and include Anti Corruption Training in the company. 

 

Final Words

 

"Corruption, embezzlement, fraud, these are all characteristics which exist everywhere. It is regrettably the way human nature functions, whether we like it or not. What successful economies do is keep it to a minimum. No one has ever eliminated any of that stuff." Alan Greenspan

 

The Amendments to the FCPA in 1998 broadened the jurisdiction of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to comprise foreign corporations if they affect, through agents or directly in a corrupt payment within the United State.

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