BY JOE PALAZZOLO
Allegations of bribing overseas officials have already cost Avon Products Inc., Weatherford International Ltd. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. nearly half a billion dollars. And they haven’t been charged.
Under widespread practice, companies often spend millions of dollars investigating themselves for potential violations of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, then turn over the results to the government in the hope of getting lighter penalties or none at all. The combined $456 million spent by those three companies largely went to law firms and other professionals hired to conduct the probes and fortify the companies’ internal antibribery controls.
The post-Watergate law …
This article was written by JOE PALAZZOLO and originally published on online.wsj
