0 out of 5 points

OECD published Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and Related Documents to prevent bribery and corruption. The aim of this convention was making the bribery of a foreign public official a crime under their laws (International Monetary Fund, OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, 2001). This document recommends to member countries that:

Bribery weakens competition and diminishes free trade which can affect companies, shareholders, and stakeholders. Jacob Franklin knowingly extended bribes to governments and contractors while knowing it was against company policy. Jacob engaged in bribery even though he knew it was wrong because he was advised that it was common practice at Richard Drilling. “In 1977, President Carter signed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The law made it illegal to bribe foreign officials. The maximum punishments for violators were set at $100,000 and 5 years in jail. Companies can be fined millions” (Bredeson, 2012, p.301). Not only was extending the bribe against company policy, it was against law and could cost Jacob and Richardson Drilling money and freedom.

The largest impact internationally has been the result of the awareness of the FCPA. Since the U.S. government enacted the FCPA, it has raised awareness in foreign countries, many of which have enforced their own anti-bribery laws and have also signed on to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention to show their commitment to the regulations of the anti-bribery laws. The OECD actually has no authority to enforce legislation and relies on the member countries to regulate the anti-bribery law. Foreign companies who are associated with U.S. markets and foreign government officials are now aware of the consequences of violating the FCPA.

The federal government occasionally passes legislation intended to regulate the amount of corruption that occurs during election season. However, the effects of these regulations have not at all been collectively positive. These regulations have unfortunately encouraged the increase in campaign contributions and spending by various nefarious influences.

big corruption cases involving the burgeoning post-New Deal bureaucracy, and was aimed at the civil service. But by its

In fraud committed against organizations, the victim of fraud is the employee’s organization. In frauds committed on behalf of an organization, executives usually are involved in some type of financial statement fraud; typically, to make the company’s reported financial results appear better than they actually are. In this second case, the victims are investors in the company’s stock. A third way to classify frauds is via the use of the ACFE’s occupational fraud definition, “the use of one’s occupation for personnel enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the employing organization’s resources or assets” (ACFE, 2010). The ACFE includes three major categories of occupational fraud: asset misappropriations involves the theft or misuse of the organization’s assets, corruption involves the wrongful use of influence in a business transaction in order to procure benefits contrary to their duty to their employer, and fraudulent financial statements involving falsification of an organization’s financial statements for personal gain.

Power corruption has endured since the beginning of time and a well known example

The government experienced large scale corruption because corporations had garnered a lot of power that allowed them special privileges. The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed to limit the formation of monopolies, but it had little effect. Moreover, Tammany Hall is an accurate representation of the corruption that occurred in politics as a result of big business. The political organizations engaged in corrupt activities such as kickbacks and bribery. Kickbacks occurred when the political bosses made an illegal profit through a system that was essentially bribery: they would give money to a business in exchange for a favor.

In this kind of crime, there is also a term “embezzlement”, which means the fraudulent appropriation by one person, acting in a fiduciary capacity, of the money or property of another (Bus Law text book, p.

When exploring political White Collar Crime involving the executive branch, legislative branch, judiciary branch and state and local governments within the United States, we can perceive all of these branches have some form of political corruption. Though it is hard to define it represent a fine line, which when crossed, the public is vulnerable. Corruption can include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, embezzlement and kickbacks. For example, campaign contributions would be a great way for underpaid political figures to gain financially.

In 1977, Congress enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA). It prohibits any form of bribery conducted by American companies (and foreign companies publicly traded on a U.S. exchange) abroad. While the FCPA does not put those U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage as most of the opponents of the act argue, it is not the best way to combat corruption because of its vagueness, neglect of cultural differences, and intrusiveness to other countries’ sovereignty.

It would be convenient to start this research paper by stating that corruption is a challenge mainly for businesses in developing countries and that it is unrelated to the current affliction of the economy in the United States. It would also be convenient to claim corruption has declined in America as a result of awareness raising campaigns and the numerous anti-corruption laws. But none of those aforementioned statements would be true. Corruption is not the exception, but rather the rule in today’s business practices. In 2004, Daniel Kaufmann, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution and former director at the World Bank, calculated an index of "legally corrupt" manifestations which is defined as the extent of undue influence

Political corruption has existed throughout the ages. It believed to be most prominent in positions of power, because of the role money plays in getting people power. However, over the centuries, corruption has changed so much so as to not match a particular definition of corruption, perpetually growing deceptively harder to find (Ebbe).

Thesis Statement: In order to determine whether a moral issue is categorized as a bribe, the ethical concepts of bribery must first be defined.

This does not set a good example for the employees and can be harmful to the future of the company. Ensuring that bribery stops can solve many of the problems discussed above. Some feasible solutions are being recommended to help the company in both short term and long term. First of all, all employees including managers should be given training and education about bribery, corruption and what’s deemed illegal according to the law. Explicit measures should be suggested on how they can avoid supporting corruption and also where they can report to in case a situation where dishonesty is involved arises.