Tiskane izdaje
Prison is the last place Albert J. Stanley seemed bound for. But on February 23, Mr. Stanley, a legendary figure in the oil industry, was sentenced to two and a half years after pleading guilty to conspiring to bribe officials in Nigeria in return for $6 billion in contracts.
The particulars of his case aside - Mr. Stanley said alcoholism played a role - perhaps the most surprising aspect of this story is that it might have unfolded at any number of big corporations. Bribery is commonplace in global business today, so much so that the United States Justice Department is waging an aggressive - and controversial - campaign against it.
At least 78 corporations are under investigation for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 35-year-old law that bans American companies from paying bribes to government officials abroad. Among those companies are such well-known names as Alcoa, Avon, Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard, Pfizer and Wal-Mart Stores, although none of these companies have been charged.
And it recently emerged that News Corporation, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch and has been trying to contain the damage from a phone-hacking scandal in Britain, is the subject of an F.B.I. inquiry into possible bribery there and in Russia.
Until recently, federal prosecutors had won settlements in nearly every battle involving charges of foreign bribery by multinational corporations and their executives. But in late February the Justice Department had an embarrassing setback: it abruptly withdrew the biggest case ever brought against individuals under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
In a withering appraisal, the federal judge in the case, Richard J. Leon, called the government's effort "a long
and sad chapter in the annals of white-collar criminal enforcement." Its approach to the law, Judge Leon said, had been "very, very aggressive."
The development opened the door for critics who assert that federal authorities have overstepped in trying to fight corruption overseas.
They say that the crackdown, which began in earnest three years ago, has made it harder for companies to win
legitimate business and needlessly instilled fear in executives. Many companies would rather make any charges
brought under the act go away with a quick settlement.
"We are seeing companies getting scooped up in aggressive enforcement actions and investigations," said Lisa A. Rickard, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform, which is pushing to modify the law. "A culture of overzealousness has grabbed the Justice Department."
But Lanny A. Breuer, the assistant United States attorney general who has stepped up enforcement actions under the act, said he is expanding his staff - and his range of targets.
"We have to be willing to take cases that we would be willing to lose," Mr. Breuer said. "We can't just pick the easy cases."
He sees himself on the right side of history, especially given the outcry against government corruption in the Arab world and elsewhere.
Enacted in 1977, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits American companies and foreign companies whose securities are traded on exchanges in the United States from bribing foreign officials to attract or keep business.
For many years, there were few prose cutions under the act. In 2003, for instance, not a single person was charged.
But in the last four years, a total of 58 companies have paid a combined $3.74 billion to settle such corruption charges. Since 2009, some 67 people have been charged, 20 are still awaiting trial or are at large, and 42 have been convicted, some from charges prior to 2009. A total of 22 have been acquitted or had charges dismissed.
One man the American government has pursued is the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea. The authorities say Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue amassed over $100 million in the United States through corruption and money laundering while earning an annual government salary of under $100,000.
The United States government filed a civil forfeiture complaint last October and is seeking to recover a $38.5 million Gulfstream V, a $30 million oceanfront home in Malibu, California, $1.8 million worth of Michael Jackson memorabilia and a 2011 Ferrari valued at more than $530,000.
The World Bank estimates that $1 trillion in bribes is paid annually to government officials. In Africa alone, $148 billion is siphoned off annually, according to Transparency International, which tracks corruption.
Jeffrey M. Kaplan, a lawyer in Princeton, New Jersey, who specializes in cases brought under the corruption act,
said: "You are talking about millions of dollars going to dictators who are selling their national patrimony in countries where you cannot even get clean water. Bribery is endemic to the human condition. If it cannot be rooted out, then you need to do something, and the F.C.P.A. is that."
Of the 10 largest corporate settlements under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, nine have involved companies outside the United States. One of the biggest cases under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act involved Siemens of Germany. It was accused in 2008 of bribing officials in a number of countries. Siemens paid $800 million to regulators in the United States and another $800 million in Germany to settle the case.
But a criminal case continues against eight former Siemens executives and contractors. The eight have been ac-
cused of paying $100 million in bribes to Argentine officials, including the former President Carlos Menem.
In the United States, critics say the big settlements are hollow victories because the companies were thus able to avoid the bad publicity of a trial. And the critics cite some defeats as showing further weakness in the government's efforts. A federal judge in Los Angeles, because of what he decided was prosecutorial misconduct, in December overturned the conviction of two American businessmen accused of paying bribes in Mexico. In January, a federal judge in Texas, citing lack of evidence, threw out a corruption case against an American businessman working for a Swiss company.
The Chamber of Commerce has been pressing for new guidelines on enforcement, expected later this spring. "You are dealing with criminal liability, and that strikes fear and terror through the heart of the corporate suite," said Ms. Rickard at the chamber.
In a letter signed by more than 30 trade associations, the chamber asks that the definition of a "foreign official"
be more limited and that companies not be held accountable for the past wrongdoing of companies they may purchase.
At the Justice Department, Mr. Breuer sounded as if he were up for any fight. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, he said, often ensnares the wealthy. "Some of the people we accuse are fabulously rich," he said. "And they are often fabulously powerful people who can get fabulous lawyers."
