Monday, September 20, 2010

Paying the Price of Bribery

It sounds like something from a Hollywood script. Brothers securing suppliers for sensitive yet lucrative Vietnamese military and government contracts. They become embroiled in a bribery scheme. The U.S. government is on to them. Only this time they don't get away after an intense car chase and gunfire battle to retire on some half-deserted island. The company is dissolved. Two brothers are sentenced to prison terms. And a third brother and a partner are given probation.

This real-life drama played out in Philadelphia last week. Three employees and one partner of Nexus Technologies were charged with paying over $250,000 USD in bribes to Vietnamese officials with the intent of securing desired equipment contracts. Their exact crime? Violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which prohibits personal payments to foreign officials.

Sample Test Question: Task 1-C-3

Examples of US federal regulations restricting international trade include all the following:

A) U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, International Anti-Bribery Act of 1998, Anti-boycott legislation, Export Administration Act
B) U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, International Anti-Bribery Act of 1998, Uniform Commercial Code, Export Administration Act
C) U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, International Anti-Bribery Act of 1998, Uniform Commercial Code, Anti-boycott legislation
D) U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Anti-boycott legislation, Export Administration Act

2 comments:

Satyam Jakkula said...

The answer is option A)

Uniform Commercial Code and Sarbanes-Oxley Act relates to Legal and Financial Accounting.

Deborah Gamble, CPSM said...

Satyam,

You are correct the answer is A). More importantly, I like how you explained the answer. Even if someone was not certain of the four US federal regulations that restrict internation trade (though I'm not saying you didn't know that already), by identifying items that don't fit the answer, one could come to answer A through a process of elimination.

Nicely done!