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Trump Pauses Enforcement of Law Banning Foreign Bribery
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for companies that operate in the United States to pay foreign government officials to secure or keep business deals.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for companies that operate in the United States to pay foreign government officials to secure or keep business deals.
www.nytimes.com
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The law, the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, makes it illegal for companies that operate in the United States to pay foreign government officials to secure business deals. Though the law was enacted in 1977, federal authorities have more heavily enforced it since around 2005, cracking down on bribery, especially in countries where it is a common business practice.
Mr. Trump has objected to the law, which has led to charges and huge fines against some of the world’s largest companies. In November, U.S. prosecutors
accused Gautam Adani, the Indian tycoon, of bribing Indian officials and charged him with fraud. His company has called those claims “baseless.”
Companies that have paid fines under the act include the engineering conglomerate
Siemensand the Swedish telecommunications company
Ericsson. In 2020, Goldman Sachs agreed to
pay more than $2.9 billion to resolve charges that employees at its Malaysian subsidiary had
paid$1 billion in bribes to foreign officials.
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The law has been “abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States,” Mr. Trump’s executive order on Monday said, adding that its enforcement was impeding foreign policy objectives.
The order bars federal authorities from starting any new investigations under the act or enforcing new actions for 180 days. The administration will also review existing investigations launched under the act, it said, to “restore proper bounds” on the law.
It also directs the attorney general to issue new guidance on how to enforce the act “that promotes American competitiveness and efficient use of federal law enforcement resources.” …”