In this episode, podcast favorite James Koukios returns to discuss highlights from international anti-corruption efforts, enforcement actions and developments highlighted in Morrison and Foerster’s December report. We highlight five developments:
- The Keppel Offshore FCPA enforcement action and the attendant fallout in Singapore, where the country has announced it is investigation possible criminal charges against the company’s senior executives. We also highlight the new Singaporean initiative for a type of Deferred Prosecution Agreement. We explore how countries in the Far East are ramping up anti-corruption investigations and their continuing cooperation with the United States in investigations.
- The Trump Administration reaffirms fight against international corruption as a top priority. We discuss the December release by the Administration of its first National Security Strategy paper, detailing the administration’s top foreign policy priorities. Among five “Priority Actions,” the paper pledges that the U.S. will “continue to target corrupt foreign officials and work with countries to improve their ability to fight corruption. . . .” We explore how the administration see corruption as a threat to American companies’ ability to compete fairly abroad and also asserts that corruption and weak government allow terrorists and criminal networks to prosper and how vigorous anti-corruption enforcement is seen as one of several “economic tools” the U.S. will use “to deter, coerce, and constrain adversaries.”
- The public call by Attorney General Sessions greater cooperation in international criminal cases. We note how this follows several other public comments by political appointees of the Administration on the need for not only robust anti-corruption enforcement but also enhanced international cooperation in investigations and enforcement.
- United Kingdom Sets Course for Long-Term Anti-Corruption Strategy; and
- The warnings issued by the Chinese government officials and employees of state-owned enterprises. We consider how this fits into the Chinese anti-corruption campaign and whether it will be inward or outwardly focused. We conclude with what it may mean for DOJ prosecutions under the FCPA and what US companies doing business in China may expect going forward.
For more information read the full Morrison & Foerster white paper Top Ten International Anti-Corruption Developments for December 2017