4 ms·

I hope there standard was to not do it, because it is a US crime for any US national, citizen or resident as employee, officer or agent of a US corporation to b

by JackFr 6y ago

I hope there standard was to not do it, because it is a US crime for any US national, citizen or resident as employee, officer or agent of a US corporation to bribe or otherwise corrupt a foreign official. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Ac...

cstejerean 6y ago
One common exception is the so called grease payments which you’ll need to get anything done in any reasonable time frame. > Regarding payments to foreign officials, the act draws a distinction between bribery and facilitation or "grease payments", which may be permissible under the FCPA, but may still violate local laws. The primary distinction is that grease payments or facilitation payments are made to an official to expedite his performance of the routine duties he is already bound to perform.
refurb 6y ago
My understanding is there is an exception for bribes needed to get an otherwise typical process complete. In other words, you’re entitled to some permit, but without a bribe you’d never get it or not get it in a reasonable period of time. Such a payment is considered a grease payment (and not a bribe), which is lawful under FCPA.
jefftk 6y ago
I think you're assuming your parent is an American? (Looks like they're Australian: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25194634 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25194634)
- FireBeyond 6y ago
  A bit of both. I live in the US now, but grew up in Australia (and born in Scotland, so I have quite the passport collection at this point).
- caf 6y ago
  It is likewise illegal for Australian citizens, residents or corporations (with the same sort of "Facilitation Payment" carve-outs mentioned elsethread): https://www.ag.gov.au/system/files/2020-09/factsheet-2-the-foreign-bribery-offence.pdf https://www.ag.gov.au/system/files/2020-09/factsheet-2-the-f...
- JackFr 6y ago
  It’s funny - I did give that some thought - and then concluded (VERY INCORRECTLY I ADD), well he worked for one of the BIG oil companies — more likely than not an American. Upon giving it a little more thought it turns out that only 2 of the top 10 oil companies are American. So, yeah, my bad.
liversage 6y ago
I have worked for a non-US company that was owned by a US company. I had to go through training and one of the courses was about bribery. It was an absurd experience. The training material kept repeating that I absolutely could not bribe a non-US official. However, in my country ALL officials are non-US and bribery is also illegal so what were they trying to tell me with this "non-US" criterion? The message I got from training course is that bribery is bad (I knew that), bribery is illegal (I knew that) but it's okay if I bribe a US official (really?).

by JackFr 6y ago

cstejerean 6y ago

One common exception is the so called grease payments which you’ll need to get anything done in any reasonable time frame. > Regarding payments to foreign officials, the act draws a distinction between bribery and facilitation or "grease payments", which may be permissible under the FCPA, but may still violate local laws. The primary distinction is that grease payments or facilitation payments are made to an official to expedite his performance of the routine duties he is already bound to perform.

refurb 6y ago

My understanding is there is an exception for bribes needed to get an otherwise typical process complete. In other words, you’re entitled to some permit, but without a bribe you’d never get it or not get it in a reasonable period of time. Such a payment is considered a grease payment (and not a bribe), which is lawful under FCPA.

jefftk 6y ago

I think you're assuming your parent is an American? (Looks like they're Australian: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25194634 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25194634)

FireBeyond 6y ago
A bit of both. I live in the US now, but grew up in Australia (and born in Scotland, so I have quite the passport collection at this point).
caf 6y ago
It is likewise illegal for Australian citizens, residents or corporations (with the same sort of "Facilitation Payment" carve-outs mentioned elsethread): https://www.ag.gov.au/system/files/2020-09/factsheet-2-the-foreign-bribery-offence.pdf https://www.ag.gov.au/system/files/2020-09/factsheet-2-the-f...
JackFr 6y ago
It’s funny - I did give that some thought - and then concluded (VERY INCORRECTLY I ADD), well he worked for one of the BIG oil companies — more likely than not an American. Upon giving it a little more thought it turns out that only 2 of the top 10 oil companies are American. So, yeah, my bad.

liversage 6y ago

I have worked for a non-US company that was owned by a US company. I had to go through training and one of the courses was about bribery. It was an absurd experience. The training material kept repeating that I absolutely could not bribe a non-US official. However, in my country ALL officials are non-US and bribery is also illegal so what were they trying to tell me with this "non-US" criterion? The message I got from training course is that bribery is bad (I knew that), bribery is illegal (I knew that) but it's okay if I bribe a US official (really?).