Wrangling over anti-bribery law rages on, with top firms facing investigation - The Washington Post

By Tom Hamburger and Brady Dennis, Published: May 8

The U.S. anti-bribery law that Wal-Mart may have violated in Mexico has ensnared leading companies from virtually every sector of the economy as federal prosecutors increasingly crack down on a wide range of transgressions, from improper accounting to giving foreign officials computers and bags of cash.
The list of those facing federal bribery inquiries stretches well beyond 100 and includes prominent names such as Pfizer, 3M, Goldman Sachs and Alcoa. Even icons of corporate responsibility such as General Electric and IBM have paid hefty sums to settle allegations, part of a broader effort that has netted the government billions in fines in recent years and landed some executives in prison.

Can you spot the bribe?

Corporate America has mounted a well-funded lobbying campaign in recent years to persuade Congress to make changes to the law, known as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977. That effort now appears stalled amid the outcry over allegations that Wal-Mart engaged in rampant bribery of officials in Mexico.
But the fight over how the law is enforced continues to intensify as the number of enforcement actions increases, from two in 2004 to 48 in 2010. Another significant jump is expected in 2012.
The Justice Department “is looking at another banner year,” Michael Volkov, a former federal prosecutor turned defense lawyer, wrote recently on the blog he maintains about FCPA issues. “Big cases are likely to start appearing on the radar screen. . . . Pharmaceutical and medical device companies are still being hammered. Movie studios may now be under the gun for activities in China. . . . The mill is churning.”
The enforcement spike has drawn praise from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other administration officials, who have hailed its impact in fighting corruption overseas. But it also has produced persistent and growing complaints from multinational companies, who argue that the law leaves too much uncertainty about what qualifies as bribery and that the government’s impulse to prosecute threatens to undermine U.S. competitiveness abroad.
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