Globalization Of The Battle Against Corruption*

For many years following the enactment of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA), the criminalization of bribing government officials was a peculiarity of US law. In Europe, it was accepted that bribery was part of business in certain regions, and some bribes were considered legitimate deductible business expenses even in countries where bribery was a crime. Counsel in bribery cases had only to manage risk of prosecution in the United States; prosecutors did not have the jurisdictional reach or political interest to pursue bribery cases. All this has now changed.

The international community has recognized a need for consensus on an anticorruption campaign, and there is a strong and growing commitment by multilateral institutions and NGOs to create a tough, global anticorruption environment. This consensus manifested itself in international conventions, including: