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FCPA Flash Podcast – A Conversation With Sherbir Panag Regarding Compliance In India

By on February 14, 2017 in FCPA Flash, India, Permits / Licenses / Customs / Tax
FCPA Flash

The FCPA Flash podcast provides in an audio format the same fresh, candid, and informed commentary about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related topics as readers have come to expect from written posts on FCPA Professor.

This FCPA Flash episode is a conversation with Sherbir Panag (founding partner of the Law Offices of Panag & Babu and manager of the firm’s New Delhi office). In the podcast, Panag: addresses the question of whether doing business in India is possible without paying bribes; talks about the “bribery panic” that often results in India; discusses how companies can best navigate India’s “Licence Raj”; and provides advice for how companies can “Indianise” FCPA compliance programs.

Any lawyer or compliance professional with clients doing business in India would be well-served by listening to the podcast.

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Across The Pond, Rolls-Royce Also Resolves A $625 Million U.K. Enforcement Action

By on January 30, 2017 in 2017 Enforcement Actions, Bidding Issues, China, Due Diligence, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Related Foreign Investigations, Rolls-Royce, Russia, Serious Fraud Office, Statute of Limitations, Thailand, Third Parties, Travel and Entertainment, U.K. Bribery Act
Rolls

This recent post went in-depth into the $170 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Rolls-Royce. As mentioned in the post, the FCPA enforcement action against Rolls-Royce was part of a broader $800 million global resolution that also included a U.K. Serious Fraud Office component as well as Brazil law enforcement action.

The approximate $625 million U.K. enforcement action comprised the bulk of $800 million global resolution (that would seem to make sense, Rolls-Royce is after all a U.K. company) and is summarized below including the several failure to prevent bribery counts under the Bribery Act.

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The First FCPA Enforcement Action Of 2017 Is A $13 Million Joke

By on January 9, 2017 in 2017 Enforcement Actions, India, Kraft, Mondelēz International, Permits / Licenses / Customs / Tax, SEC Enforcement Action, Successor Liability
mondelez

On Friday, the SEC announced the first Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action of 2017 against Mondelēz International, Inc.

The basic findings in this short administrative action are the following: (i) in February 2010, Kraft Foods (which re-named itself Mondelez International in 2012) acquired Cadbury (a U.K.-based confectionary and snack beverage company that had securities registered with the SEC) and its subsidiaries, including Cadbury India; (ii) in early 2010 Cadbury India retained an agent to interact with Indian government officials to obtain licenses and approvals for a chocolate factory; (iii) Cadbury India failed to conduct appropriate due diligence on and monitor the activities of the agent which “created the risk” that funds paid to the agent (approximately $100,000) could be used for improper or unauthorized purposes and (iv) Cadbury’s India’s books and records did not accurately and fairly reflect the natures of the services rendered by the agent.

Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Mondelez agreed to pay a $13 million civil penalty.

This enforcement action is a complete joke (as is the fact that the scrutiny began in February 2011).

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Friday Roundup

By on December 9, 2016 in Biomet, CEMEX, Disgorgement, FCPA Sentences, Hiring Family Members of Foreign Officials, India, JPMorgan, Jurisdiction, Och-Ziff Capital Management, Samuel Mebiame, SEC, Teva Pharmaceuticals
Roundup

Guilty plea, scrutiny alerts and updates, SEC Director of Enforcement to leave, sound analysis of the JPMorgan enforcement action, and for the reading stack.

It’s all here in the Friday roundup.

Mebiame Guilty Plea

As highlighted in this previous post, in August 2016 the DOJ unsealed a criminal complaint charging Samuel Mebiame, a Gabonese national connected to Och-Ziff, with conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions. In pertinent part, the complaint alleged that Mebiame, on behalf of Och-Ziff and related entities, routinely paid bribes to foreign government officials in at least each Niger, Guinea and Chad.”

Today, the DOJ announced that Mebiame pleaded guilty.

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Embraer Bribery Schemes Result In Net $187 Million FCPA Enforcement Action

By on October 25, 2016 in 2016 Enforcement Actions, Airline Industry, DOJ Enforcement Action, Dominican Republic, Embraer, Foreign Issuers, India, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, SEC Enforcement Action, Third Parties
embraer

Yesterday, the DOJ and SEC announced resolution of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Embraer, a Brazil-based aircraft manufacturer with American Depositary Shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

According to the DOJ and SEC, Embraer engaged in bribery schemes between 2008 through 2011 in the Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, and Mozambique in which the company approved bribe payments, through various third-parties, to various alleged “foreign officials.” According to the DOJ and SEC, Embraer’s wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary was active in the bribery schemes including by making payments from its New York based bank account. In addition, the enforcement action also involved improper conduct in India between 2005 and 2009. In total, the government alleges that Embraer made approximately $84 million as a result of the improper conduct.

The enforcement action involved a DOJ component in which the company agreed to pay a criminal penalty of approximately $107.3 million and an SEC component in which the company agreed to pay $83.8 million in disgorgement and $14.4 million in prejudgment interest. The SEC agreed to credit a disgorgement amount that Embraer agreed to pay to Brazilian authorities and this filing suggests that disgorgement amount is approximately $18.6 million. Thus, the net FCPA settlement amount was approximately $187 million.

This post goes in-depth into the enforcement action by summarizing the approximate 115 pages of resolution documents.

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