Financial Transparency Coalition

Credit: Task Force

Tom Cardamone, Managing Director at Global Financial Integrity, continues his biweekly op-ed series with TrustLaw.  In today’s column, he announced a forthcoming petition calling on legislators to help defend the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans the bribery of foreign public officials.

Explaining the purpose of the petition, Mr. Cardamone writes:

“The petition, which is expected to be released in the next few days, is targeted at Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, who has said he will craft a bill that brings the law ‘up to date.’  Sensenbrenner chairs a subcommittee of the powerful House Judiciary Committee which convened a hearing in June that largely criticized the FCPA.

The FCPA has been on the books since 1977 and is seen by anti-corruption advocates around the globe as the model for international standards aimed at curtailing the payment of bribes by corporation with the goal of obtaining or retaining business.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been actively pushing for changes to the law that would remove some of its most effective provisions.  One of the Chamber’s key lobbyists in that effort, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, has now been hired by News Corp., itself a donor to the Chamber, to assist with the ongoing hacking and bribery scandal plaguing the corporation.  Representative Sensenbrenner has also received substantial campaign donations from News Corp’s Political Action Committee.

Read the full piece here, and visit TrustLaw to see the rest of Tom Cardamone’s columns.