According to a report by Trace International, over 126 investigations of foreign bribes by US companies have been engaged.The report also noted an increase of U.S. bribery enforcement in the category of manufacturers and service providers. The report also found twice the number of investigations by countries policing their own officials for alleged bribery in 2015 as there were total domestic bribery cases from 1977 to 2015. This reflects a substantial increase in the scrutiny and prosecution of such bribes which makes fair competition impossible.
According to Trace, there were just four non-U.S. anti-bribery enforcement actions in 2015, down from 15 the year before, while the U.S. carried the lion’s share of enforcement with 16 cases. Trace president Alexandra Wrage says we know there was a drop in the number of non-U.S. enforcement actions related to foreign bribery, the data also show that roughly the same number of ongoing investigations are being conducted by non-U.S. authorities as are being conducted by the U.S.,
Last year the Department of Justice announced that it was adding a dozen new prosecutors to [rpsecute foreign bribery. Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell told a conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that the Justice Department is looking to hire 10 prosecutors to its own FCPA unit. That amounts to a 50 percent increase to its current headcount, Caldwell said, and comes on top of moves earlier this year to attach squads of prosecutors to the FBI’s international corruption unit.
Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers.
