Friday Roundup
Consistently damaged, across the pond, scrutiny alerts and updates, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
“Consistently Damaged”
In this 12 minute video, Neil Bruce (CEO and President of SNC-Lavalin) describes his frustration for how the company is not being offered a remediation agreement (Canada’s term for a deferred prosecution agreement) in connection with its long-standing scrutiny. (See here and here for prior posts).
Lisa Osofsky (Director Of U.K. Serious Fraud Office) Speaks On A Variety Of Topics
U.S. enforcement officials are not the only ones who speak at FCPA conferences hosted by for-profit conference firms. (See here). “Foreign officials” do as well.
So let’s see, the conference firms are “domestic concerns” under the FCPA, a speaking slot is a thing of value, the foreign law enforcement official is a “foreign official,” and the thing of value to the foreign official helps drive attendance to the conference firm’s paid event. But, I digress.
Recently, Lisa Osofsky (Director of the U.K. Serious Fraud Office) delivered this speech at an FCPA conference and touched upon the following topics: SFO priorities, international cooperation, corporate cooperation and integrity, and the SFO’s use of technology.
Friday Roundup
Interesting, across the pond, non-profit scrutiny, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Interesting
The DOJ’s FCPA’s Corporate Enforcement Policy states:
“When a company has voluntarily self disclosed misconduct in an FCPA matter, fully cooperated, and timely and appropriately remediated … there will be a presumption that the company will receive a declination absent aggravating circumstances involving the seriousness of the offense or the nature of the offender. Aggravating circumstances that may warrant a criminal resolution include, but are not limited to, involvement by executive management of the company in the misconduct; a significant profit to the company from the misconduct; pervasiveness of the misconduct within the company; and criminal recidivism.”
What Viable Criminal Charges Against Guralp Systems Did The DOJ Actually “Decline”?
This July 2017 post highlighted the criminal conviction of Heon-Cheol Chi (Chi) of South Korea -“the Director of South Korea’s Earthquake Research Center at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) for “laundering bribes that he received from two seismological companies based in California and England through the U.S. banking system.”
The prior post noted that attention now turns to Kinemetrics (the California company) and Guralp Systems Ltd. (the U.K. company).
Recently, the DOJ quitely released this substantively vague so-called declination letter concerning Guralp Systems. However, as highlighted below it is difficult to analyze just what viable criminal charges against Guralp Systems that the DOJ actually “declined” to prosecute.
Friday Roundup
Across the pond, sentenced, unremarkable, and nonsense. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Across the Pond
As highlighted in this prior post, in July 2016 the U.K. Serious Fraud Office announced:
“The SFO is conducting a criminal investigation into the activities of Unaoil, its officers, its employees and its agents in connection with suspected offences of bribery, corruption and money laundering.”