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So to recap, a Swedish telco bribed officials in Uzbekistan and the settlement goes to US and Dutch authorities, because the money was wired through New York ba
by svantana 9y ago
So to recap, a Swedish telco bribed officials in Uzbekistan and the settlement goes to US and Dutch authorities, because the money was wired through New York bank(s)?
Granted, $1B is not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, but shouldn't the money go to the Uzbeki people, who were the ones getting 'screwed'?
- himlion 9y agoAs for the Dutch part. The Dutch daughter companies paid the bribes, which is illegal under Dutch law and this is a settlement with the Dutch Public Prosecutor. Uzbekistan should separately recover that money from the Karimov family.
- keldaris 9y agoWhenever I see these types of laws actually being applied, I wonder why the companies involved don't just outsource the payments to subsidiaries in jurisdictions that don't have (or don't enforce, which is most of them) such laws. Are there any specific legal barriers to that?
- IkmoIkmo 9y agoDutch legal system is often chosen because you don't want to be a counterparty to an agreement in a shitty jurisdiction. Typically companies worry more about their counterparty screwing (e.g. not delivering, delivering late, delivering low quality, or not paying, paying late or paying too little) them than the government. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Jurisdictions that turn a blind eye to bribery indicate strong levels of corruption, which means you're vulnerable to your contract not being honoured by your partner and being unable to enforce penalties.
- skrebbel 9y ago> Uzbekistan should separately recover that money from the Karimov family. I'm not sure you appreciate the extent to which the Karimov family are the state of Uzbekistan.
- dharma1 9y agoAgreed it feels a bit weird, but how would you distribute the money directly to the Uzbeki people? I'd imagine if the government of Uzbekistan received the settlement, it would find its' way to Swiss bank accounts rather than the people of Uzbekistan
- shoo 9y agostraw-man proposal: lottery. pick one citizen at random and give them all of the money.
- svantana 9y agoYeah that's a tricky one. How about using the money to buy some of their sovereign debt, and then forgive that debt? Or probably even better, involve some NGO that already works in the region.
- kharms 9y agoIf the money went to the Uzbeki people no one would enforce the law. The incentive for US/Dutch enforcement is that they get the fine dollars.