Careening from crater to crater at breakneck speeds along the coastal mule track affectionately referred to by the Angolan locals as a “highway,” a driver adeptly gnawed a pita sandwich, guzzled a soda and smoked a pack of cigarettes. “More potholes than road,” he mumbled through a Marlboro Red. “No worry. I know these streets.” The confidence exuded from the front seat failed to ease the tension for the two American attorneys nervously clutching their dusty laptop bags. In recent years, an ever-increasing parade of attorneys from the United States have risked life and limb abroad to investigate potential improper payments to foreign government officials. But whether the business transaction takes place in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia or Latin America, there are often more potholes than road.
Compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is daunting for both corporations and individuals. The anti-corruption legislation, largely ignored by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for the first 30 years of its existence, has recently become one of the sharpest instruments in the government’s toolbox. And this year, FCPA prosecutions continued on the upswing.
