This month, while U.S. enforcement authorities continued to issue declinations, anti-corruption enforcement in China and Brazil reached new levels. GlaxoSmithKline PLC ("GlaxoSmithKline") agreed to pay an unprecedented US $491.5 million to Chinese authorities after the company's Chinese subsidiary was found guilty of bribery on September 19, 2014. The ruling followed a one-day trial in Changsha, Hunan, and the penalty marks the largest corporate fine ever imposed in China. GlaxoSmithKline's subsidiary in China allegedly paid bribes totaling US $482 million to health officials and doctors through over 700 travel agencies in order to boost sales. The bribes were allegedly paid by sales teams to bribe doctors and hospitals to achieve the company's sales targets.

In Brazil, authorities filed a criminal action against eight Embraer SA employees who allegedly paid US $3.5 million in bribes to officials in the Dominican Republic to obtain a US $92 million contract for attack planes. If convicted, this case will mark the first known effort by Brazil to prosecute its citizens for bribes paid abroad.

Meanwhile, Image Sensing Systems ("ISS") announced that both the U.S. Securities and Enforcement Commission ("SEC") and U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") have declined to prosecute. The allegations stemmed from an investigation by Polish authorities in December 2012, when two employees of ISS Poland were charged with criminal violations of the Polish tender and corruption laws under the Polish Penal and Criminal Codes related to a project in Łodz. The Polish investigation appears to be ongoing.

There have also been developments for Alstom SA, Rolls Royce Group pLc, SNC Lavalin, BHP Billiton Limited, General Cable Corporation, VimpelCom Ltd., Innospec, Leighton Holdings Ltd., Israel Military Industries, Petrobras, Volkswagen AG, and Eni SpA.  

SEC announces record-breaking $30 million whistleblower award.  The award, which is the largest in the Commission's history, was for key information related to an ongoing fraud investigation.  It also marks the fourth time that a whistleblowing award has been made to someone living in a foreign country.

California court dismisses human rights abuse case against Cisco Systems - The California court ruled that the plaintiffs, who had brought their case partially under the Alien Tort Statute, did not sufficiently show facts that human rights abuses touched and concerned the United States with sufficient force to overcome the presumption against extraterritorial application of the statute.  The decision closely followed the Supreme Court's 2012 ruling in

U.S. Commerce Department publishes list of all known conflict mineral processing facilities - The list, which was made public pursuant to section 1502(d)(3)(C) of the Dodd-Frank Act, tells companies all known facilities that process the minerals tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold, but does not indicate whether a specific facility processes minerals that are used to finance conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country.

Brazilian authorities charge Embraer SA employees of bribing officials of the Dominican Republic - Brazilian authorities are reportedly working alongside their U.S. counterparts to collect evidence of a $3.5 million bribe to a retired Dominican Air Force colonel.  The case marks one of the first major actions by Brazilian authorities to curb instances of bribery abroad.

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England & Wales

Allen & Overy

The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014, passed in January 2014, will require anyone carrying on the business of 'consultant lobbying' to be registered and maintain an up to date register entry.  The definition of 'consultant lobbying' includes communicating personally with a Government minister or permanent secretary about (a) any Government proposal to make or modify legislation, (b) any other Government policy, (c) any contract (or other agreement), grant (or other financial assistance) or licence (or other authorisation) made or issued by the Government, and (d) the exercise of any other function of the Government. There will be both criminal and civil penalties for contravention of the registration requirements under the Act but the relevant operative provision of the Act is not yet in force.

Ireland

Arthur Cox

The Protected Disclosure Act 2014, commonly known as the Whistleblowers' Act, was signed into law on 8 July 2014 and came into operation by Ministerial Order on 15 July 2014. The Act seeks to make whistleblowing a key element of corporate risk management and foster a culture supportive of whistleblowing in both in the public and private sectors.  It offers protection to broad range of workers who makes disclosure of relevant information, reasonably believed to show relevant wrongdoing and obtained through employment, through following specified disclosure channels: Disclosure to an employer to other responsible person; Disclosure to a prescribed person; Disclosure to a Minister; Disclosure to a legal adviser; and Disclosure through other channels, potentially including the media.  Every public body is now required to establish and maintain procedures for making and dealing with such disclosures.

New Zealand

DLA Philips Fox

All Public Service Departments, the New Zealand Police, and the New Zealand Defense Force are required to comply with the Government Rules of Sourcing (2014) (2014 Rules).  The 2014 Rules represent the government's standards of good practice for the sourcing stages of the procurement life cycle for purchases that are estimated to meet or exceed the value threshold ($100,000 for goods and services or $10 million for construction works). The 2014 Rules provide that an organization can opt-out of compliance where the procurement is related to military and essential security interests.  If a government entity regularly purchases a specific type of good, service or works, it may establish a Panel of Suppliers (list of suppliers who have been pre-approved by a government entity and have agreed to its terms and conditions of supply) and purchase directly from the Panel without needing to openly advertise procurement opportunities.

Slovak Republic

PETERKA & PARTNERS advokátska kancelária s.r.o.

Under the Act on Free Access to Information, Slovakian state agencies are obliged to acquire goods, building operations or services through Central Contracting Organizations, Ministry of Interior in cooperation with Ministry of Finance for the purpose of public procurements, for contracts with estimated value equaling or exceeding the financial limit stated in building regulation issued by the Office of Public Procurement.

NEW Partner Firm 

Martin Kenney & Co. Solicitors

Flemming House

Road Town

Tortola

British Virgin Islands

TEL/FAX: +284 494 2444

Craig Allam, Managing Director of Investigations

New Law studentship (LLM) announced for academic year 2015/16

1 September 2014

Kings College

Head of DOJ Criminal Fraud Section to Rejoin Simpson Thacher
2 September 2014

Wall Street Journal: Law Blog