The SFO Speaks
Today’s post is devoted to the U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO), specificaly a recent speech by Richard Alderman (Director of the SFO) on the Bribery Act and a recent webcast delivered by Vivian Robinson QC (General Counsel for the SFO) on the Bribery Act.
Bribery Act 2010 – A New Beginning
Earlier this week, Alderman gave a speech “Bribery Act 2010 – A New Beginning” (see here).
[See here for my recent Q&A with Mr. Alderman on the Bribery Act and other topics].
Below are some excerpted highlights.
“Those corporates and individuals that ignore recent developments in this jurisdiction concerning bribery legislation and the enforcement of the law do so very much at their peril. The UK will soon have the toughest bribery legislation in the world and it will be vigorously enforced by the Serious Fraud Office. In the meanwhile, the work of the SFO in enforcing the current law has been widely praised. Indeed as a result of what we have been doing the OECD, Transparency International and TRACE International have put the UK very much in the lead after the US in enforcing anti-corruption legislation. I have been very pleased to see this. The UK is regarded as an active enforcer of bribery legislation. This is exactly where we need to be.”
“We want to encourage corporates that identify a problem to come and talk to us at an early stage. The incentive for them is that a self report could potentially lead to a civil resolution through a Civil Recovery Order. We have done this in two cases that are in the public domain and we currently have some other cases that are being dealt with in this way.” [Those two cases are Balfour Beatty Plc (here) and AMEC Plc (here)]
“The sentencing remarks by Lord Justice Thomas in the Innospec case [see here for a prior post] have been regarded as casting some doubt on this. In that case, Lord Justice Thomas stressed the importance of dealing with corruption and the need for very significant sentences when individuals and corporates are brought before the Criminal Courts. He also discussed civil recovery and said that the public would expect suitable cases of corruption to go to the Criminal Courts. I entirely accept this guidance. There will be cases where we shall decide, in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and the Guidance for Corporate Prosecutions, which because of the nature and seriousness of what is alleged we must prosecute. For example, it is likely that cases involving systemic failings at Board level would be prosecuted. However, there maybe cases where we are unable to prosecute and we consider that a civil recovery order is appropriate. This is a civil remedy. We have given detailed guidance on these issues in the context of corporate prosecutions. There is also Attorney General’s guidance on the Use of Civil Recovery.”
“While I am talking about guidance from the courts, let me also refer briefly to the comments in the Innospec and Dougall cases concerning documents agreed by the SFO and the corporate when a case comes to a criminal court. The Judge took the view that the SFO had gone too far in these cases in recommending or commenting on the sentence that the Judge should impose. I accept these criticisms. Plea negotiations of this nature are new and there is a lot for us all to learn. We have had other cases where the Judge has been satisfied with the agreed documentation as a basis for sentence. This is what we shall need to aspire to in all of these cases.”
“Let me now turn to the subject of the Bribery Act because there are a number of issues here that I would like to talk you through. First of all, I very much welcome the Bribery Act. The SFO has been working with colleagues in Government on proposals for changes in the legislation for a number of years and I am delighted to see the Bribery Act. It is a very tough piece of legislation. It is tougher than the FCPA because it also deals with private sector bribery as well as bribery of public officials and it gives no exemption for small facilitation payments. So it is a tough piece of legislation.”
“The offence at the corporate level that you will need to know all about is the provision that makes it an offence for a corporate if it fails to prevent bribery. There is a defence to this if the corporate had adequate procedures to prevent bribery.”
“I have heard some people say that this offence is one of strict liability. I do not agree. No offence will have been committed if there were adequate procedures. I have also heard people say that the fact of bribery might mean that there were inadequate procedures by definition and so the defence can never be made out. Again, I do not agree. In the real world there may be occasional lapses despite adequate procedures rigorously enforced. The issue ultimately for the Judge and jury (and for the SFO in deciding on a prosecution) will be – were those procedures adequate?”
“I have mentioned the corporate offence but, of course, the Act goes wider that. There are offences of giving and receiving bribes and there is an offence of bribing a foreign public official. There is also an offence targeted at senior officers of a corporate who consent to, or connive at, bribery.”
“The Act also looks at issues of jurisdiction. For the first time non UK corporates will be brought within the jurisdiction of the SFO if they have some business presence in the UK. What this will mean is that a foreign corporate that is involved in corruption anywhere in the world will be within the SFO’s jurisdiction if it has a business presence here even if the corruption has no connection with that business presence. This is a very important provision for us. I believe that foreign corporates are waking up to the significance of this.”
“Let me comment on two particular issues arising from the Bribery Act because I know that they have caused a lot of concern to the corporate sector. These issues concern promotional expenditure and small facilitation payments. It may be helpful if I comment on both of those issues. In doing this I shall follow an important speech given by the UK’s Attorney General, The Rt Honourable Dominic Grieve QC MP, to the World Bribery Forum on 14 September. [See here for my coverage of these remarks]. This speech is available on the Attorney General’s website and is particularly important.”
“First of all promotional expenditure. There are some who have said that the effect of the Bribery Act is to outlaw all promotional expenditure. I do not agree. Sensible, proportionate expenditure is not unlawful under the Act. But, of course, once the expenditure starts to be on a more lavish scale and is intended to influence decision makers in awarding contracts, then we do get into the area of criminal offences. The Act seems to me to take a very sensible approach. And so the message from me is that sensible proportionate promotional expenditure remains perfectly lawful.”
“The other issue that causes difficulty concerns small facilitation payments. I appreciate the difficulties because of the realities of doing business in many parts of the world. I also bear in mind that the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act exempts these payments from criminal offences in certain circumstances.”
“There is a lot of focus on small facilitation payments these days. Just before Christmas the OECD published a paper talking about the corrosive impact that these payments have on societies and calling on Governments to take more vigorous action in order to penalise them. This is an important message to all of us.”
“Let us be clear. Small facilitation payments are bribes and they are unlawful under our current law. That will not change and they will be unlawful under the Bribery Act. Nevertheless, I have said in public that the chances of the SFO prosecuting a small (say $50) one off facilitation payment that is picked up and remedied by a corporate’s internal processes are remote. That does not mean though that corporates can decide that it is acceptable to have a number of so called one off payments provided that in total they do not exceed shall we say $20 million a year. That is certainly a view that has been put to me. I said that I strongly disagreed. I also said that I could not understand how payments amounting to $20 million a year could be regarded as small one off facilitation payments. They are a course of business that is approved by the corporate. The chances of a criminal investigation and prosecution, where that is company policy, would be high.”
“There are two other points I would like to make.”
“First, do not under-estimate the scale of the co-operation between the SFO and law enforcement authorities in other countries. This is very extensive particularly with my colleagues in the US Department of Justice but also with other countries such as Australia. It is something that means a lot to us. We discuss cases, intelligence leads, policies and risks. There is a lot of discussion that goes on behind the scenes.”
“Finally, there is an invitation from the SFO to approach us to discuss these issues, either directly or through professional advisers. We can discuss your company’s policies and we can discuss the issues that you are finding in practice. We find this very beneficial ourselves and I know that corporates do as well. We are very ready to have these discussions with you.”
Bribery Act – What Does it Mean?
In a 30 minute webcast (here) Robinson speaks on a variety of topics.
Among other things:
Robinson says that it is right to describe the Bribery Act as the most “draconian” anti-corruption measure in the world.
As to the adequate procedures defense, Robinson says that because of the defense “there is every reason to be optimistic that we won’t get as a result of the Act and this particular section a huge expanse in the number of prosecutions of corporates.”
As to self-reporting, Robinson says that the SFO will not sit back and wait for cases to come to it. He mentions that there is increased information sharing, greater cross-border cooperation, that the SFO’s investigations have dramatically increased, and that more information is coming from whistleblowers. He stated that “companies are at greater risk than ever before that SFO will discover matters on its own.” He stated that “self-reporting makes absolute sense [and that the SFO is] encouraging it as strongly as we possibly can.”
As to small to medium size companies, Robinson says that smaller organizations are not absolved from liability under the Bribery Act. but that the SFO “would not expect the same from a small or medium size company that we would expect from one of the larger ones.” He said that the SFO will take “into consideration the extent to which a small, medium size operation can put in place the same sort of procedures as a larger organiztion with much greater resources.” As to due diligence, Robinson says that small to medium size companies “should carry out as much due dilignce as they reasonably can, but what they reasonably can do in that way may not be as much as a large corporate can reasonably be expected to do.”
*****
A good weekend to all.
“A Tip A Day”
According to Joe Palazzolo’s recent post in Corruption Currents (a Wall Street Journal blog), “a person familiar with the matter” said the SEC “has been receiving at least one tip a day about potential foreign bribery violations” pursuant to Dodd-Frank’s new whistleblower provisions.
Whether those tips turn into enforcement actions will be the question.
As I noted in this prior post, my guess is that the new whistleblower provisions will have a negligible impact on FCPA enforcement.
Speaking generally on Dodd-Frank’s whistleblower provisions (i.e., not just in terms of the FCPA) SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro had this to say (see here) in September 30th testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs:
“Staff in the Division of Enforcement, with assistance from other divisions and offices, is actively working to draft implementing regulations for the whistleblower program. Pending the issuance of these regulations (due no later than 270 days after the date of enactment of the Act), the staff has been and will continue to be able to receive whistleblower complaints. Also, information for potential whistleblowers has been posted on our website. Already, since the passage of the Act, we have seen a slight uptick in the number of tips and complaints received, and, more importantly, an uptick in the quality of complaints.”
As noted in Schapiro’s testimony, “the first report to Congress on the whistleblower program will be provided on October 30, 2010.”
For more on Dodd-Frank’s whistleblower provisions see here.
Friday Roundup
In one way, shape or form, whistleblowing is the theme of this week’s Friday Roundup.
SEC Timeline on Various Dodd-Frank Provisions
The SEC has a lot on its plate in implementing various rules pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”).
Included on that list is the new whistleblower provisions established by Dodd-Frank (see here for a prior post).
Interested in following the SEC’s progress?
If so, here are the important dates (or months as the case may be) to keep in mind.
October – December 2010
SEC plans to “propose rules to implement a Whistleblower Incentives & Protection Program,” “report to Congress on Whistleblower Program,” and “Establish Whistleblower Office.”
January – March 2011
SEC plans to “adopt rules to implement a Whistleblower Incentives & Protection Program.”
Another Dodd-Frank provision many in the FCPA universe are following is Section 1504 – “Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers” (see here for a prior post).
Here is the planned timeline for that provision.
October – December 2010
SEC to “propose rules regarding disclosure by resource extraction issuers”
January – March 2011
SEC to “adopt rules regarding disclosure by resource extraction issuers”
Khuzami on the SEC’s Whistleblower Program
Earlier this week Robert Khuzami (Director, Division of Enforcement – SEC) had this to say about the SEC’s whistleblower program in testimony before the Senate:
“The Division currently is in the process of drafting the proposed rules applicable to the Whistleblower Program, including rules setting forth the procedures for whistleblowers to submit original information to the Commission and for the Commission to make awards to whistleblowers. We also have begun the process of staffing the Commission’s Whistleblower Office. As we create the Program and the Office, we will be mindful of competing interests, including: (i) a desire to encourage whistleblowers to provide the Commission with high-quality tips regarding potential violations of the federal securities laws, and (ii) a need to avoid creating undue burdens on the Commission and the constituencies that we protect and regulate that could result from groundless whistleblower submissions.”
Furmanite Corporation
Kendall Law Group is one of the new breed of FCPA “plaintiff” firms that have sprung up in recent months. The sequence is usually predictable. A company discloses an FCPA issue or inquiry. Within days the firm, or one of the other firms that is also seeking to capitalize on what, at times, seems like an FCPA feeding frenzy, issues a press release such as this one. These releases have become so common, that it is easy to gloss over them.
However, Kendall Law Group’s September 16th release (here) regarding Furmanite Corporation was a bit different. Here is what it said, in relevant part:
“The Kendall Law Group was recently notified by a confidential source of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by Furmanite. The company was allegedly made aware of potential violations of the FCPA as early as 2008. The firm’s source indicates that cash gifts were given to representatives of state-owned enterprises to maintain and develop customer relations. Furmanite has two subsidiaries in China, Furmanite Mechanical Technology Services Co. Ltd. which operates out of Shanghai and Furmanite East Asia Ltd. which is based in Hong Kong. Furmanite has entered into business relationships with state-owned enterprises in China, such as the recently announced delivery of equipment to China HuanQiu Contracting and Engineering Company, a branch of the China National Petroleum Corporation, China’s largest integrated oil and gas company.”
Is Kendall Law Group representing a whistleblower in connection with Dodd-Frank’s new whistleblower provisions? Pursuant to the new whistleblower provisions, a whistleblower may be represented by counsel.
Furmanite, “the worldwide innovator and leader in comprehensive on-site and on-line plant and pipeline maintenance” according to its website (here), is an issuer on the New York Stock Exchange.
To my knowledge Furmanite has not issued a release / disclosure about this issue.
*****
A good weekend to all.
World Bribery & Corruption Compliance Forum – Comments by U.S. Officials
As promised in yesterday’s post (here) that provided a summary of comments by U.K. officials at the World Bribery & Corruption Compliance Forum in London hosted by IBC Legal Conferences, today’s post provides a summary of Charles Duross’s (Deputy Chief – Fraud Section, DOJ) special address as well as comments made by Duross and Thierry Olivier Desmet (Assistant Regional Director, FCPA Unit, SEC) during a panel discussion about voluntary disclosure.
Duross began by noting that the DOJ’s FCPA unit is still very much in a transition phase. He stated that the unit recently added prosecutors with expertise in gathering foreign evidence as well as new prosecutors with the ability to try substantial criminal cases to verdict. Duross stated that the “ability to try lengthy and complex trials” is critical to the FCPA unit’s success and that the unit must continue to be willing to try cases and be put to its burden. Duross stated that the DOJ’s FCPA unit consists of “world class prosecutors” “pure and simple” and that these prosecutors and other personnel make “tremendous personal sacrifices” in their mission of combating bribery. For instance, he noted that in the past few months DOJ prosecutors have traveled to a dozen different countries on four different continents to gather evidence and investigate cases.
Duross also noted that the DOJ works with “tenacious” agents willing to pursue any lead. These agents include, most notably, FBI agents, as well as agents from Immigration, the Internal Revenue Service, Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the Office of Export Enforcement. He said that these agents will “follow the evidence to where it leads them” and that these agents will use traditional law enforcement tools including surveillance, warrants, and wire taps.
Duross stated: “let me be clear – paying bribes to foreign officials to secure business is illegal and is a crime, you will be investigated like any other criminal, and that it doesn’t matter if you wear a tie or you went to a fancy business school.” He said that “if [the DOJ] wins, and we win often, you will go to prison.” He stated that the DOJ is “normally outnumbered by armies of defense attorneys and accountants,” but that DOJ prosecutors are “never outworked and never outhustled.” Duross stated that the DOJ is “always pursuing justice and that it is always seeking to do the right thing.”
Duross also stated that the DOJ continues to expand its network and further development its relationships with foreign counterparts around the world. He stated that the DOJ has “no stronger ties” than with the U.K. and that to say the DOJ has a “close relationship” with the U.K. and the Serious Fraud Office “would be an understatement” as demonstrated by the recent BAE and Innospec prosecutions.
Duross admitted that he takes his new position with a bit of “trepidation” given that he has big shoes to fill (he made specific praise for Peter Clark and Mark Mendelsohn) and given that each new case is followed more closely than the last. He stated that such “scrutiny and criticism can be constructive” and that if it means the DOJ needs to review past practices “we will do so” and that the only way for DOJ to get better is for it to reevaluate what it is doing.
Duross also noted that the DOJ’s FCPA program will be “graded” later this year under the peer review process sponsored by the OECD. The lead examiners in this process are representatives from Argentina and the United Kingdom. He noted that the examiners spent three days in Washington D.C. over the summer and the examiners were provided over 1,000 pages of documents. He also stated that the examiners spent considerable time with the private sector without DOJ involvement something he termed “unprecedented.” According to Duross, the examiner’s report will be made public in mid-October as well as the U.S. response to OECD’s phase 3 questionnaire.
Duross is confident that the U.S. “has a tremendous story to tell” and that if the peer review process identifies area for potential improvement, then “we will welcome this.” Duross said that “if the bar is raised we welcome that” “if it is consistent with our treaty obligations and if all countries are treated equally.”
Duross explained that the FCPA unit has a “number or pending trials” and a significant number of investigations “in the pipeline.” He mentioned upcoming trials in Miami in connection with the Haiti Teleco enforcement actions (see here for prior postings); the upcoming trial of various executives of Control Components Inc. in California – a trial he expects to last two months (see here for prior postings); the pending trials of the Africa Sting defendants in Washington, D.C. (see here for prior postings); and a pending trial in Houston.
In each of these cases, Duross said that the DOJ FCPA unit partners with local AUSA’s who are experts on local trial procedure and have familiarity with the judge. He said that these partnerships are “critical” to the FCPA unit’s success, even if, per DOJ policy, all FCPA prosecutions must be handled by DOJ Main Justice. Duross noted that recently over 90 prosecutors (both DOJ and SEC) participated in “three intense days” of FCPA training at the SEC’s headquarters (see here for a prior post). In concluding on this issue, Duross stated that it would be an “understatement” to say that the DOJ’s team is growing.
In addition to trials, Duross noted that the DOJ’s “pipeline” of investigations “continues to grow.” He said it would “short sighted” if one was left with the view that the only way DOJ receives leads is through voluntary disclosures. Duross dispelled the notion that voluntary disclosures make up the “majority” of its cases. He said that this was “not true and has never been.” According to Duross, when DOJ last looked into this issue a few years ago, the percentage of voluntary disclosure cases was approximately 1/3. On voluntary disclosure, Duross stated that DOJ “has and will continue to provide meaningful credit for companies that provide voluntary disclosures.” He also stated that several voluntary disclosures result in DOJ declinations and that these declinations, which are not often made public, “should not be underestimated.”
During the public Q&A session, I asked Duross about DOJ declinations in FCPA inquiries. I noted that through the FCPA Opinion Release Procedure, DOJ often makes its no-enforcement action decision known as to contemplated business conduct. I asked whether it is in the public interest for the DOJ to publicly disclose its declination decisions, including the facts disclosed by the company and why DOJ, on those facts, declined prosecution. Duross said that the question presented a “difficult issue” and he shared an example of a company that disclosed conduct to the DOJ, but the DOJ declined to prosecute. According to Duross, DOJ asked the company whether it wanted the declination decision to be made public and the company said no – reasoning that it already had disclosed the issue and that there was no need for another public disclosure.
Duross noted that the DOJ receives allegations from a number of sources: the FBI, pro-active investigations, tips from U.S. embassies around the world, anonymous tips, e-mails, and whistleblowers. As to anonymous tips, e-mails, and whistleblowers, Duross stated that DOJ does not immediately launch a full-blown investigation, rather DOJ does its best to verify the information, weight other information, and to make the best judgment possible before commencing an investigation. In sum, Duross said “I don’t want to leave you with the impression that but for voluntary disclosures we would be sitting around on our hands.”
Duross emphasized that the DOJ and its law enforcement partners “make tons of efforts to pursue matters pro-actively” and that the “likelihood of getting caught is increasing over time” and that the world is getting smaller. For instance, Duross said he receives Google Alerts that contain the word bribe. He also shared a story about a “major Fortune 50 company” being the focus of a bribery-related story in a Chinese newspaper. Duross said that the DOJ saw the story on a Sunday night and that by 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning the DOJ had already sent a letter to the general counsel of the company asking for an explanation. Duross explained, that after learning the facts, the DOJ concluded that the newspaper story was incorrect because the case was merely an employee embezzlement matter and had nothing to do with bribery.
Duross next spoke about “tone at the top” and how important it is because non-executive employees look to the board and senior managers for guidance. Duross said that boards and executives should not “let their employees down” and should make clear that unethical and illegal behavior will not be tolerated and that company leaders “should mean it.” On this issue, Duross said that frequently a company voluntarily disclosing will, at the first meeting with DOJ, “slap down on the table its compliance policy.” Duross will then ask the company representative whether anyone has ever been reprimanded for conduct in violation of the policy and that the answer is often “no.” Duross stated that it is “not enough to have a compliance program and a tone at the top,” but rather for a company to “make sure that it means it.”
As to the role of compliance officers, Duross said that vocal support within the business is critical to support the compliance officer so that he/she will not be ignored or willfully disobeyed. Although compliance departments are not viewed as profit centers, Duross encouraged companies to make compliance positions an attractive career track with room for advancement and promotion.
After his remarks, Duross was asked about the general lack of judicial scrutiny of FCPA enforcement actions. He talked about the three FCPA trials in 2009 and said that DOJ is “excited about the upcoming trials” and that the DOJ “welcomes judicial input” on the FCPA.
In his answer, Duross also mentioned the Nexus Technologies enforcement action and how in that action the parties fully briefed the “foreign official” element and that DOJ “won that case.” Although Duross conceded that the judge in that case did not issue a written opinion on the “foreign official” element, Duross did note that the judge, under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, was required, before accepting the plea, to make sure each element of the crime was met.
[It should be noted that in the Nexus Technology briefing, the DOJ specifically urged the judge, on a number of occassions, not to consider the defendant’s substantive “foreign official” argument because they were premature. The following are snippets from the DOJ’s brief: (i) “the Court need not address any of these faulty arguments at this time:” (ii) “although styled as a motion to dismiss, Defendants’ submission is instead a premature request for a ruling on the sufficiency of the Government’s evidence before any of that evidence has been presented. These arguments, which are premature at best, will be moot after presentation of the Government’s case.” (iii) “because Defendants’ arguments turn entirely on issues of fact, they are premature.”]
During a panel discussion on voluntary disclosure both Duross and Desmet answered questions posed by John Rupp (Covington & Burling – see here).
The first question posed by Rupp was – when is it a crime not to disclose a suspicion of bribery of a public official?
Desmet answered that the concept of materiality is important – would a reasonable investor consider the information important in making a buy or sell decision. Desmet said that the concept of materiality itself has two “sub-concepts”: (i) quantitative materiality (something that impacts a company’s financial statements) – he conceded that very few bribes are quantitatively material; and (ii) qualitative materiality a “complicated gray area” to use Desmet’s words. He said that all bribes can be considered qualitatively material because they may “automatically trigger a books and records violation.” Because of this, Desmet said that it is “prudent” for any issuer to approach the SEC with any “suspicion” of bribes “as soon as” the company learns of the improper payment. When an issuer makes such a disclosure, Desmet said that the Commission will give the company credit for doing so.
Duross answered the question by saying that from the FCPA unit’s perspective, “if there is a bribe we want to hear about it, even if it is small” and that good advice is “to come in and let us know about it.”
Rupp next posed the question – at what point do you expect a company to make a voluntary disclosure?
Duross said, “the earlier the better” although he did also say that the DOJ “does not want to get inundated with a bunch of false starts.” Duross shared an example he said was “troubling” and that was a recent situation where the company voluntarily disclosed a few days after terminating employees in connection with the investigation. When the DOJ asked the company about the employees implicated in the conduct at issue, the company said we terminated them a few days ago and the company then proceeded to say that it no longer had access to the employees.
According to Duross, this “seemed like a bad decision” for the company to make and the conclusion he drew from the company’s decison was that the company did not “want to make the employees available to us.” Duross also added that while a company is often under no affirmative obligation to voluntary disclose, once the voluntary disclosure decision is made, the relationship between the DOJ and company counsel is all about trust and credibility.
Duross said that it is “incredibly difficult” for the DOJ to make important decisions affecting the company if the DOJ senses that the investigation was not done properly or if the DOJ senses that the company is not truly cooperating. Duross said that if the DOJ does not trust company counsel, it may ask the company to go back and redo the investigation of the conduct at issue. According to Duross, a reason a company should consider early in the process to voluntarily disclose is to perhaps save money. He said that the DOJ FCPA unit is “pretty reasonable” and that if a company comes in before the investigation is complete, the DOJ can have some input as to the scope of the investigation – which may turn out to be more limited than what the company may have thought was going to be expected.
In sum, Duross sees the benefits of an early voluntary disclosure as building trust and credibility and perhaps saving the company money.
Duross said that counsel should also not assume that a voluntary disclosure will result in a “passive approach” from the DOJ. Even if a company has voluntarily disclosed conduct, Duross said that the DOJ will go talk to witnesses and use the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty process to gather evidence. Duross shared a story of outside counsel meeting with the DOJ and giving DOJ a big Powerpoint presentation, when the reality of the situation was that, through no fault of outside counsel, outside counsel had “absolutely no idea of what was going on” because DOJ, as a result of its independent fact-gathering, knew information that even outside counsel did not know.
Duross also cautioned companies to make accurate public statments during an investigation and voluntary disclosure process. On this issue, Duross shared that the DOJ has reached out to companies in the middle of an FCPA inquiry to let the company know that DOJ may disagree with various aspects of the public statements the company is making about the investigation.
Rupp asked – do companies in discussions with you, run the “footnote language by” the DOJ? Duross said, it depends on the practitioner. He did say “to be honest, we don’t want to get into that level of detail in which we are blessing company filings.” Duross did say though that if the company proposes language for a filing or public statement and the DOJ says “no comment” that this should be interpreted by the company as “probably not a good thing.”
Desmet said that when he opens up an FCPA investigation, one of the first things he does is read the company’s SEC filings, including a very detailed review of the company’s MD&A section of the financial statements.
Rupp next asked questions about the SEC’s new whistleblower provisions and asked what will happen if the company has a mere suscipion of an improper payment, the company is in the very early stages of an investigation, a document hold has been issued, electronic documents are being pulled, the company is lining up employees that may have knowledge – but that during this process, a whistleblower contacts the SEC. Rupp asked – will the company in this situation lose the benefits of voluntary disclosure because the whistleblower first contacted the SEC? (See here for my prior post on this issue).
Duross said that the above company probably would be negatively affected under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and probably not receive the sentencing credit for voluntary disclosure, but that this should not be the beginning and end of the analysis. Duross said that there are “lots of different factors” the DOJ considers when resolving an FCPA inquiry per the DOJ’s Principles of Prosecution of Business Organizations and that just because the company was technically not the first in the door does not mean that the DOJ will not try to achieve a “just and fair result.” Duross stated that the SEC, not the DOJ, is in charge of the whistleblower program, but again stated that companies should not think the “world is going to be over” just because a whistleblower “is in first” even if that fact may impact the Sentencing Guidelines culpability score.
Desmet’s answer was very similar on this issue. He noted that while final rules are yet to be issued as to the whistleblower program, he hopes that the Commission would not be rigid in the face of such a hypothetical. He said that if the company comes in a “few days or a few weeks after a whistleblower” that he would “like to think” that such a company would still get credit for self-reporting. In this type of situation, Desmet said that the whistleblower, if otherwise qualified under the provisions, would likely get his/her bounty and the company would likely still get the benefit of self-disclosure as well.
World Bribery & Corruption Compliance Forum – Comments By U.K. Officials
Day one of the World Bribery & Corruption Compliance Forum in London featured addresses by Dominic Grieve (the U.K. Attorney General) and Robert Amaee (Head of Anti-Corruption U.K. Serious Fraud Office). This post provides a summary overview of their comments.
Tomorrow’s post will provide a summary overview of comments made by Charles Duross (Deputy Chief – Fraud Section, DOJ) and Thierry Olivier Desmet (Assistant Regional Director, FCPA Unit, SEC).
Before turning to Grieve and Amaee’s remarks, the U.K. Ministry of Justice yesterday (see here) officially launched the consultation process to “gather the views of interested parties” on the Bribery Act that “will help shape guidance about procedures which commercial organisations can put in place to prevent bribery.” In connection with the launch, the Ministry of Justice released this 35 page document which contains statements of various officials, draft guidance, and draft illustrative scenarios. Interested persons are encouraged to make their views known (see here).
Remarks of Attorney General Grieve
Attorney Grieve began by noting the “pernicious” effects of bribery and that tackling bribery requires an effective law – something he firmly believes the U.K. Bribery Act (with implementation slated for April 2011- see here for a prior post) will do. Attorney Grieve noted that the Bribery Act takes the U.K.’s antiquated bribery laws and modernizes these laws into a modern statute.
However, Attorney Grieve noted that one would be wrong to assume that the U.K. was ignoring bribery issues prior to passage of the Bribery Act. Indeed, he stated that even under the U.K.’s existing law strong enforcement has taken place and that it was “pleasing” that the U.K.’s recent enforcement actions were recognized in Transparency International’s recent report (see here for a prior post on the subject).
Attorney Grieve provided a brief overview of the Bribery Act’s offenses (see here for the Act itself), including, most notably the Section 7 offense for “failure to prevent bribery.”
Attorney Grieve noted that while “it has been suggested that Section 7 creates a strict liability offense” he emphatically stated that “it does not.” He drew upon his prior experience as a health and safety prosecutor and stated that the practice of having an occurrence of an event “and then reversing the burden of proof” is a “perfectly acceptable tool within [the U.K.] legal system.” Regarding adequate procedures which indeed are a defense under Section 7, Attorney Grieve noted that “any company small or large” that puts into place a system of adequate procedures “has nothing to fear” when an employee or agent “goes off the rails” and makes a bribe payment.
Speaking of the Bribery Act more generally, Attorney Grieves said that “it is not a bad thing” that the Bribery Act views bribery broadly because in practice bribery can “take many forms” and the Bribery Act “needs to take account of that.”
Attorney Grieve spent a few minutes talking about corporate hospitality. He said that the starting point is that corporate hospitality is “not illegal” and that the Bribery Act is “not intended to clamp down” on acceptable corporate hospitality. He did caution however that lavish hospitality “can be used as a bribe” and that the Bribery Act “must be capable of penalizing such conduct.”
Attorney Grieve referenced a recent article in the Financial Times “Mining and Oil Groups Dig In For Bribery Act.” The article notes concern by the mining industry over an example of a company arranging to fly a local Chilean mayor to a remote region of the country to view the company’s production facilities and that during the trip, food and lodging would also be provided by the company. Attorney Grieve said he “found it difficult” how any “sensible person” could think that this was bribery. He contrasted this example with a company paying for a foreign public official to stay at the Ritz in Paris with “go-go girls” also provided.
In concluding his remarks on this issue, Attorney Grieve said that “common sense” needs to be taken into account when providing corporate hospitality.
Returning to the issue of adequate procedures, Attorney Grieve said that a company should have nothing to fear if it is “walking the walk, and talking the talk” when a rogue employee makes an improper payment. On the other hand, Attorney Grieve stated that that “those who don’t heed the warnings and don’t take the necessary steps have something to fear.”
Remarks of Robert Amaee
Amaee began by stating that the SFO “welcomes the opportunity [delay of the Bribery Act] provides for business to digest and implement remedial actions” to put them in compliance with the new Bribery Act.
Amaee spoke of the “main problem” confronting SFO prosecutors under existing U.K. law and that is the “concept of a controlling mind” – in other words, to indict a case today, the SFO needs to show that “at least one controlling mind (a person at the board level or close to such a position) knew of and participated in the conduct at issue. Given the nature of the modern multinational corporation – where decision making is often made on a regional basis, Amaee said that this standard is difficult to meet.
Amaee noted that “Section 7 sweeps away that whole requirement” and establishes the new corporate offense of failing to prevent bribery. Under Section 7, Amaee explained that a corporate can be criminally liable if its employees or agents made improper payments – something he described as a shift in U.K. law and a new and “novel offense for U.K. law.”
Amaee also commented how the Bribery Act will “significantly extend” the SFO’s jurisdictional reach in prosecuting bribery offenses. He noted that if a company is registered anywhere in the world, but conducts some business in the U.K., that company can be prosecuted for failing to prevent bribery wherever in the world that bribe was paid.
Even with the new offense, Amaee stressed that the Bribery Act does provide some “comfort in the form of a defense” and that is the defense of adequate procedures.
Amaee also touched upon certain risk areas that he is often asked about.
The first is intermediaries. He noted that the SFO clearly recognizes that intermediaries serve a useful purpose by opening up doors in foreign markets, but that “in the past, some companies have chosen not to ask too many questions” of the intermediary or that companies have in the past “ignored clear warning signs” as to the intermediary. He noted that under the Bribery Act – neither of these past practices “will do” and that corporates should think about re-vetting their entire intermediary base. Amaee stated – “a board should always ask – where are we doing business and how, and that if the board doesn’t like the answers it receives, it should be prepared to take the business elsewhere.”
The second area of risk is joint venture. Amaee acknowledged that in certain sectors joint ventures are routine. However, he cautioned that companies should be mindful of not partnering up with a company that is not “willing to be open and transparent or not willing to demonstrate that its code of conduct does not match your own.”
Like Attorney Grieve, Amaee also spoke of corporate hospitality. He noted that during passage of the Bribery Act, assurance was provided that the U.K. government will not seek to penalize legitimate corporate hospitality. He stated however that “lavish corporate hospitality can be used to secure an advantage and that the Bribery Act must be wide enough to cover it.”
Amaee next spoke of the SFO’s approach to combating bribery. He spoke of two strands – active engagement to assist companies improve its corporate culture and to maintain high standards and vigorous enforcement when dealing with corporates who believe in using corruption and thus put others at a disadvantage.
Amaee stated that the “criminal courts are the right place for the right defendants,” but he also noted that criminal prosecution is not the “only means of effective enforcement.”
He stated that the SFO has discretion to consider non-criminal resolutions such as civil sanctions and listed the following factors as relevant to the issue of resolution: sufficiency of the evidence, public interest considerations, concurrent jurisdiction issues, and potential debarement issues.
Amaee also spent a few minutes talking about the SFO’s approach to individuals and he noted that the Bribery Act contains several sections under which individuals may be prosecuted – both rogue employees who bypass a company’s adequate procedures and high-ranking corporate executives who consent or condone the improper conduct. Amaee stated that with the Bribery Act, the “stakes are higher than ever before for senior officers within a company” and that under the Bribery Act “it is no longer possible” for senior executives “to bury their head in the sand and look the other way.”
During a panel discussion about self disclosure, Amaee was asked when a corporate should consider making the voluntary disclosure decision. In summary fashion, he said that the SFO’s preference is “as soon as possible” because this allows the SFO a much better chance for it to tell the company what the SFO is thinking and that if the company self-reports early in the investigative process the company can actually end up saving money because the SFO may suggest a more limited scope of investigation than the company perhaps was considering.