Photo Credit: Gleb Garanich, Reuters Last year’s election of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his pledge to curb corruption in the public and private spheres has brought about a shift in the Armenian business community’s attitude towards anti-corruption compliance. This new government openness has encouraged businesses to look towards transparent business practices and… Read More
Late last week, one of the world’s largest integrated telecommunications services operators, VimpelCom, agreed to pay a $835 million settlement to U.S. and Dutch authorities. The company is accused of paying $114 million to Uzbek president Islam Karimov’s relative, widely believed to be his daughter, Gulnara Karimova. The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) claims that… Read More
Corruption is a systemic problem that plagues many transitional countries across the world, rooted in weak rule of law and lack of private property rights. Not only does corruption erode trust in public institutions, such practices also hinder economic growth and weaken democratic governance. The corruption challenge can be addressed by building responsive institutions that offer… Read More
In the first half of 2014, anti-corruption enforcement actions by the U.S. alone cost the business community more than $500 million. It would seem logical that as a result anti-corruption compliance would be at the forefront of every multinational corporation’s activities. But that’s not the case, at least as described in the 2014 Global Fraud… Read More
As the world’s multinational companies seek profits in new, high-risk markets, they inevitably start depending on local businesses – third parties – to operate. Such partnerships bring with them both the promise of mutual growth and, for the multinational, responsibility for the behavior of its new local partner. That’s because aggressively applied laws such as… Read More
Without a strong compliance program, many smaller Russian firms could be locked out of lucrative contracts with big multinationals. By Henry Nelson In countries with weak rule of law, anti-corruption efforts suffer from a collective action problem: because bribery and corruption are endemic and occur frequently, individual small business owners hesitate to reform because they… Read More