Using Information From Websites, As It Will Give Me Information About Anti Bribery Policies

Establishing corporate policies and addressing issues of corruption within the organization that set an example for all employees to follow is important. Canada may prosecute the individual and the business involved in bribery.

This case portrays the widely propagated and accepted phenomena of bribes and corruption in developing countries. Specifically how it affects every sector of the Ukrainian society, therefore making it difficult for the American investors to establish companies there and to prosper solely on doing good business. The case describes the types of obstacles and ethical dilemmas being created for the investors as a result of bribery and extortion.

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.

(Wells, 2011, p. 241). Bribery can come in many different forms but generally is defined as an act in which something of value is offered, given, received or solicited with the intent of influencing an official act. Illegal gratuities can be similar to bribes except these are usually given as a reward. Economic extortion is basically the demanding of money. “A conflict of interest occurs when an employee, manager, or executive has an undisclosed economic or personal interest in a transaction that adversely affects the organization.” (Wells, 2011, p. 242). These are not all corruption schemes that exist but have been determined to be more common than others and ones that should definitely be watched for when completing an audit or a full financial status review.

There are many corporate organizations that have expanded their business opportunities outside of the U.S. Consequently, these global organizations are required to conform to The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA). Under the FCPA, anti-bribery and accounting provisions exist for companies to identify unlawful acts and comply with requirements by maintaining accurate records of transactions and implementing internal controls. (DoJ, 2015a, FCPA: An Overview section, para. 2-3).

In my opinion every country is corrupt and has pliantly of bribery in their governments, businesses, and even households. Bribery in its most basic form is the practice of giving gifts of monetary value to a client or potential customer to persuade their decision. According to Black Law’s Dictionary, bribery is “The offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty.” This practice constitutes a crime in most developed countries and is highly controversial. As with any controversy, bribery has its advantages as well as problems. Common advantages of bribery include gaining business without needing to have superior quality or services, building

One of the most widespread and potentially powerful efforts to combat bribery was initiated by:

Looking at bribes from the perspective of Pastin and Hooker (1980), prosecution of the one paying a bribe does very little to address the issue of corruption since the payer is the one subject to legislation. As long as the one demanding the bribe is not subject to prosecution, the request for bribes will not diminish and organizations will simply not

They also intend for the changes to improve the law in the manner which it is being applied. Among the business leaders, the main concern with this particular Act is that is it aggressively enforced and also broad in its content. The two major parts that form the act are the prohibition of corrupt activities to retain or acquire a business and submission of the financial reports with an internal system of controls. The provisions that bear the records and books are frequently enforced by a share of the authorities subjecting the companies to frustrations whenever any violation is detected. Even though over more than 30 years since the enactment of the law, there has been a sporadic application of the anti-bribery part, but only a few cases have been settled with modest fines with many going unpunished. Moreover, some hurdles are also being experienced when enforcing the acts. For instance, in most cases, bribery is often made but with intermediaries from foreign countries on behalf of the involved parties who again form no ties with the United States. Hence, it is becoming hard to press charge against them or bring them to the U.S. for trials. The act presses more charges on individuals as opposed to involved companies. It is also taking longer for the full realization of justice given that foreign bribery is difficult to detect hence five years given the statute limitations is deemed not

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) is the first globally enforcing statute making anti-corruption effort in the world. It has been known for the broad enforcement coverage in terms of the worldwide governing jurisdiction and anti-gaming legislative approach leading to a long time debates and discussions among practitioners and law commentators. This paper will focus on improving one of the undefined and broadly interpreted terms - “instrumentality” in the anti-bribery provisions of FCPA which essentially serves as the catch-all legislative device to prevent gaming, however, on the other hand, leaving problems in terms of ambiguity in interpretation. This paper will first provide an overview of the FCPA. Second, this paper will explain the global enforcement impact for the multi-national businesses. Thirdly, this paper will discuss the importance and problems of the term “instrumentality” applied in the anti-bribery provisions of FCPA. Then, this paper will try to identify the essence of “instrumentality” and its related problems through studying relevant cases. Finally, this paper will offer solutions in order to solve the current problems related to “instrumentality” interpretation and draw the conclusion. For the purpose of narrowing the focus of this paper, the discussion and analysis will be mainly based on the anti-bribery provisions of FCPA regulating the issuers.

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

Bribery can be defined as when one is offered money or some other incentive with the intention to corrupt a person’s actions.¬ Bribery is the main component, if not the basis, of government corruption.

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.