In-depth, scrutiny alert, further Alstom-developments, quotable, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
In-Depth
In November 2014, Dutch-based SBM Offshore resolved an enforcement action in the Netherlands. With a settlement amount of $240 million, the SBM Offshore enforcement action was one of the largest bribery-related enforcement actions of 2014 – regardless of country.
This recent article titled “The Cover-Up at Dutch Multinational SBM” in Vrij Nederland (a Dutch magazine) goes in-depth as to SBM’s scrutiny. The article has largely escaped the attention of Western media and the FCPA-related blogosphere, but is worth the time to read. The article begins as follows.
“The corruption scandal at Dutch multinational SBM Offshore, which in November reached a $240 million out-of-court settlement with the Dutch Public Prosecutor (OM), is much larger than thought, as testimony of a former employee now shows. The company has actively pursued a strategy of “containment” and has consistently misled the market. So why did the OM settle?”
Among other things, the article highlights the role of U.S. lawyers and law firms involved in the SBM representation.
Scrutiny Alert
In this recent article, the L.A. Times details, based on obtained documents, the expenditures involved in filming the movie Sahara. Among the expenditures, according to the article – “local bribes” within the Kingdom of Morocco. The article states:
“Courtesy payments,” “gratuities” and “local bribes” totaling $237,386 were passed out on locations in Morocco to expedite filming. A $40,688 payment to stop a river improvement project and $23,250 for “Political/Mayoral support” may have run afoul of U.S. law, experts say.
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According to Account No. 3,600 of the “Sahara” budget, 16 “gratuity” or “courtesy” payments were made throughout Morocco. Six of the expenditures were “local bribes” in the amount of 65,000 dirham, or $7,559.
Experts in Hollywood accounting could not recall ever seeing a line item in a movie budget described as a bribe.
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The final budget shows that “local bribes” were handed out in remote locations such as Ouirgane in the Atlas Mountains, Merzouga and Rissani. One payment was made to expedite the removal of palm trees from an old French fort called Ouled Zahra, said a person close to the production who requested anonymity.
Other items include $23,250 for “Political/Mayoral support” in Erfoud and $40,688 “to halt river improvement project” in Azemmour. The latter payment was made to delay construction of a government sewage system that would have interrupted filming.”
Further Alstom Developments
Yesterday, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office announced:
“Charges have been brought by the SFO against Alstom Network UK Ltd and an Alstom employee in phase three of its ongoing investigation.
Alstom Network UK Ltd, formerly called Alstom International Ltd, a UK subsidiary of Alstom, has been charged with a further two offences of corruption contrary to section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, as well as two offences of conspiracy to corrupt contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.
Michael John Anderson, 54, of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, who was working as a business development director for Alstom Transport SA in France, has been charged with the same offences.
The alleged offences are said to have taken place between 1 January 2006 and 18 October 2007 and concern the supply of trains to the Budapest Metro.
The first hearing in this case will take place at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 12 May 2015.”
Quotable
In this recent speech, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell stated:
“Through deferred prosecution agreements and non-prosecution agreements – or DPAs and NPAs – in cases against companies, we are frequently able to accomplish as much as, and sometimes even more than, we could from even a criminal conviction. We can require remedial measures and improved compliance policies and practices. We also can require companies to cooperate in ongoing investigations, including investigations of responsible individuals. To ensure compliance with the terms of the agreements and to help facilitate companies getting back on the right track, we can impose monitors and require periodic reporting to courts that oversee the agreements for their terms.
Some of these outcomes may resemble remedies that can be imposed by regulators. But these agreements have several features that cannot be achieved by regulatory or civil resolutions.
Criminal Division resolutions require that an entity admit to its misconduct. Commerzbank, for example, admitted responsibility and agreed to a detailed statement of facts that was filed with the court. Whereas some regulators permit “no admit, no deny” resolutions – for legitimate reasons of their own – we require that individuals and entities acknowledge their criminal culpability if they are entering into a NPA, DPA or pleading guilty.
Where we enter into DPAs, a criminal information is filed with the court and prosecution of the information is deferred for the time of the agreement. Where a company fails to live up to the terms of its agreement, an information is already filed, and we can tear up the agreement and prosecute based on the admitted statement of facts. That’s a powerful incentive to live up to the terms of the agreements.
When we suspect or find non-compliance with the terms of DPAs and NPAs, we have other tools at our disposal, too. We can extend the term of the agreements and the term of any monitors, while we investigate allegations of a breach, including allegations of new criminal conduct. Where a breach has occurred, we can impose an additional monetary penalty or additional compliance or remedial measures. And let me be clear: the Criminal Division will not hesitate to tear up a DPA or NPA and file criminal charges, where such action is appropriate and proportional to the breach.
Obviously, not every breach of a DPA warrants the same penalty. We are committed to pursuing an appropriate remedy in each case, and we will calibrate the penalty we pursue to fit the nature of the violation and the corporation’s history and culture. And we will do so transparently, with an explanation of what factors led to the resolution in each case.
[…]
[C]riminal prosecution is the best manner in which to punish culpable individuals. And the seriousness of potential or actual punishment for felony criminal convictions, including incarceration for individuals, and the stigma and reputational harm associated with criminal charges or convictions, serve as powerful deterrents.”
For the Reading Stack
This Wall Street Journal Risk & Compliance post suggests that the ongoing corruption investigations in Brazil are becoming full-employment events for FCPA Inc. According to the article:
“Multinationals with operations in Brazil are making frightened calls to their lawyers, as the country’s spreading corruption scandal reaches more companies.
[…]
Attorneys say companies with operations in Brazil are scrambling to assess whether they could get swept up in the probe. “They are very worried,” said Ruti Smithline, an anti-bribery specialist at Morrison & Foerster LLP. “The investigation is so widespread. If you have business in Brazil, the likelihood that this is going to touch you in some way is very high.”
Companies are racing to discover questionable activities before authorities in Brazil do. “They are asking: ‘Is our house clean? If authorities look at these relationships what are they going to find?’” Ms. Smithline said.”
The WSJ post asserts:
“[Brazil’s new anti-corruption law, the Clean Companies Act] holds companies to even higher standards and stricter liability than the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. For example, unlike the FCPA, under the Brazilian law a company can be prosecuted for corruption even if didn’t realize it was paying a bribe and had a great compliance program in place.”
This is a most off-target statement as Brazil law does not even provide for corporate criminal liability like the FCPA. Moreover, business organizations are often the subject of FCPA enforcement actions even though the company had in place pre-existing compliance policies and procedures.
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Miller & Chevalier’s FCPA Spring Review 2015 is here.
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A good weekend to all.
