The Watergate investigation of the 1970s discovered slush funds that corporations had used to bribe foreign government officials during the Nixon administration. Congress responded to these discoveries and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) became law. Although the law was enacted over 40 years ago, be warned: the penalties for violating the FCPA can be severe with fines in excess of $ 1 billion.

You are only as compliant as the least compliant employee in your organisation. We all realise that corruption is an accepted way of conducting business in many parts of the world, especially in Africa. Yet, the devastating cost of this corruption has been estimated as USD $ 1 000 000 000.00 (one trillion dollars). This amount: “could feed up to 400 million starving people for the next 27 years” (Alan Beekman CFO, Fluor Corporation).

By eliminating corruption, the United States and other countries hope to make the world a better place. By halting corruption, you alleviate the principal causes of poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, disillusionment and terrorism.

The FCPA makes it a crime for an American company, US citizens or their agents to obtain business by bribing a government official of a foreign country. The FCPA also makes it illegal for such parties to conspire to do so from the United States, or for a publicly traded US company to fail to record such payments on its company books.

Although the Department of Justice (DoJ) and other regulatory authorities in the developed world have been using the FCPA and recent Anti-Bribery legislation to fight corruption, you now have an opportunity to ensure that your company is complaint with these laws. By implementing the following Corporate Intelligence strategies, you will minimize your risk and optimise your operating efficiencies in Africa.

Use our Corporate Intelligence services in all 55 African countries to:

• Acquire insights about current, future and third party threats to your business
• Determine whether your corporate assets are being compromised and by whom
• Evaluate your compliance with FCPA and other Anti-Bribery legislation
• Gather evidence about unethical business practices by your competitors
• Identify profitable business opportunities that have minimal risks
• Monitor the moral hazard of the principals with whom you want to do business

By using locally sourced and professionally analysed corporate intelligence service about companies and individuals, you can ensure that you do not fall foul of FCPA and Anti-Bribery Legislation whilst deciding with whom you want to conduct legitimate business in Africa.