Financial Transparency Coalition

In April, 31 South Koreans, including 18 professional baseball players, were indicted for sports gambling and match-fixing. Operating both online and on the field, where players deliberately made mistakes to throw matches, these athletes and “brokers,” members of criminal gangs, earned as much as $4,000 per game. This type of activity is not new to South Korea, as volleyball and soccer leagues faced similar instances earlier this year. However, the recent corruption of baseball, Korea’s national pastime, particularly reflects a larger South Korean problem.

Korea has improved its information and intelligence gathering capacity in foreign bribery cases, but should be more proactive in investigating allegations, according to a new OECD report.

On Wednesday, the SEC announced a $16 million settlement in an FCPA case filed against Diageo, Inc. The company, which dominates the global liquor market, was accused of spending at least $2.7 million on bribes through its Asian subsidiaries, and omitting or mislabeling those funds in SEC filings. These bribes were given to government and military officials in South Korea, India, and Thailand in order to gain a variety of advantages, from tax breaks to more beneficial policies in transfer pricing negotiations. Bribes included trips to Europe, while one Thai bureaucrat received $12,000 a month for helping...

The official communiqué from the G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors that was held in Gyeongju, South Korea on October 22-23, 2010.