????律師和《反海外腐敗法》專家表示,，杜克和沃爾瑪其他高管可能違犯了該法，因?yàn)樗麄冊(cè)谝环葆槍?duì)該公司墨西哥分部廣泛存在的行賄受賄問題的調(diào)查報(bào)告上簽字同意,，而這份報(bào)告事實(shí)上充滿漏洞,。同時(shí)據(jù)報(bào)道，他和其他高管很久之前就得知這些賄賂行為,，但他們?cè)诤脦啄旰蟛艑⑦@些潛在的違法行為告知股東和政府監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu),。這也可能對(duì)杜克不利。根據(jù)《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》本周末的一篇報(bào)道,，杜克2005年就發(fā)現(xiàn)了這些所謂的賄賂行為,，但是直到《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》告知這家全球最大的零售商該報(bào)正在調(diào)查此事后，公司管理層才在去年12月份將問題匯報(bào)給執(zhí)法機(jī)構(gòu),。
????據(jù)報(bào)道,，美國(guó)司法部正在對(duì)沃爾瑪?shù)馁V賂指控進(jìn)行刑事調(diào)查。證券交易委員也正對(duì)此展開調(diào)查,。美國(guó)時(shí)間周一下午,，眾議院民主黨人士表示他們也將調(diào)查沃爾瑪?shù)馁V賂問題。
????美國(guó)司法部在指控公司高管賄賂案件方面表現(xiàn)得越來越積極,，這是沃爾瑪可能遭到指控的大背景,。去年12月，美國(guó)政府曾經(jīng)就公司賄賂問題對(duì)德國(guó)工業(yè)公司西門子（Siemens）的八名前任管理者提出指控,，其中包括一名西門子核心管理層成員,。全球性大公司的董事會(huì)成員被指控違反《反海外腐敗法》，這還是第一次,。大公司違反該法案的案例中有很多在最終解決時(shí)并未涉及個(gè)人,。在過去五年里，政府提起的針對(duì)個(gè)人的此類案件逐漸增多,，但有成有敗,，結(jié)果不一。
????卡普蘭沃克律師事務(wù)所（Kaplan & Walker）的《反海外腐敗法》專家杰弗瑞?卡普蘭表示,，“沃爾瑪公司可能會(huì)被處以巨額罰款,。而對(duì)于高管將做如何處理則很難說。如果公司管理者發(fā)現(xiàn)賄賂行為,，他們必須按照要求做一些事情,，但并不是太多?！?/p>
????在過去十年里,，沃爾瑪公司遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不是唯一一家身陷賄賂指控的大型公司。上世紀(jì)七十年代《反海外腐敗法》就已出臺(tái),，但公司管理者直到十年前才更為主動(dòng)地依法行事,，其中的原因主要是受到《薩班斯-奧克雷法案》（Sarbanes Oxley）和國(guó)際條約的制約。從那以后,，司法部和證券交易委員會(huì)每年都會(huì)提起十來宗賄賂指控案件,，其中一些涉及到大公司。去年,，美國(guó)司法部官員表示,，他們有超過150宗公開調(diào)查涉及到《反海外腐敗法》。 |
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????Lawyers and FCPA experts say that Duke and other top Wal-Mart officials may have violated the law when they allegedly signed off on a flawed investigation of widespread bribery at the company's Mexican division. Also potentially damaging for Duke is that it took years for Wal-Mart officials to tell shareholders and government regulators about the potential misdeeds, long after he and other top executives allegedly knew about the reported bribes. According to an article in the New York Times this weekend, Duke found out about the alleged bribes in 2005, but company officials only reportedly informed law enforcement officials about the potential abuses in December, which was after the Times says it told the world's largest retailer the paper was looking into the matter.
????The Department of Justice is reportedly conducting a criminal probe of the Wal-Mart bribery allegations. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating as well. On Monday afternoon, Democrats in the House of Representatives said they too would investigate the allegations of bribery by the retailer.
????The potential charges against Wal-Mart come at a time when the Justice Department is getting more aggressive in charging top executives in bribery cases. In December, the government charged eight former Siemens officials, including a former member of the German industrial company's central executive committee, in connection with bribery charges at that company. That was the first time a board member of a large global corporation was charged with a FCPA violation. Many FCPA violations at large companies are settled without naming individuals. In the past five years, the government has brought more FCPA cases against individuals, but those have only had mixed success.
????"Wal-Mart is facing potentially huge penalties," says Jeffrey Kaplan, a FCPA expert at law firm Kaplan & Walker. "It's harder to say for executives. Corporate officials are required to do something when they find out about bribery, but not that much."
????Wal-Mart would be far from the only large company ensnared by bribery charges under FPCA in the past decade. The law has been around since the 1970s, but officials, aided by Sarbanes Oxley and international treaties, started more aggressively bringing cases under the act about a decade ago. Since then the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission have brought about a dozen cases a year alleging bribery. A number have involved large companies. Last year, DOJ officials said they had more than 150 open investigations involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. |
