201 Street

The United States Congress was part of a group that included thirty three countries from around the world, that came together in 1988 to put an end to corruption. Government officials from across the globe coordinated and collaborated to create a system that would end bribery, money laundering and terrorist funding that was taking place in the financial systems at the time. Those that were initially targeted were the officials and the military, and their attempts to exploit foreign companies and officials through extortion. When this occurs in a country it has the potential to bring the country down. It wreaks havoc on the society, often throwing the economic systems into a tailspin. For once officials or a country is considered corrupt, others will take away their investments and refuse to do any business with them. The people of the society will lose their jobs, and be thrown into abject poverty, while those conducting the corrupt activities remain in power and wealthy to boot.

This is the exact definition of corruption, when the actions one takes for personal gain come at the expense of others. What was created at that conference more than twenty years ago was the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, or the FCPA. This Act affects the international financial institutions greatly in they way that their business and their transactions are conducted. They are required by law to comply to a strict set of policies and procedures with regards to their dealings with other institutions and foreign officials. They must conduct their own thorough investigations of whom the chose to interact with by following the concept of “know your customer”, and in doing so must report any and all suspicious activities or acts of criminal intent to the proper agencies that will conduct their own investigations into the matter. Failure to do so will result in their own possible convictions. This is just one of the ways in which the countries of the world are coming together to put an end to terrorism and corruption.

For many weeks, protests have been staged by the students and the liberal members of society in Indonesia.  These protests, as in the current ones in Tanzania, have to do with corruption in the military and the government.  The upper echelon of the military is under attack, not only from the citizens of the country but by the international press.  The media has published many articles that illustrate just how corrupt those high ranking officers really are.

Companies in other countries have made reports about the fact that they were required to pay off officials in exchange for the business opportunities they had received.  Just as the government and the financial institutions are discovering, many foreign businesses are refusing now to do business in Indonesia, for not only do they not want to be forced to bribe the officials, they do not want to be associated with people, with businesses and with a country is so entrenched in these corrupt acts.

For there is not only the aspect of the corruption itself, but the actions of the military and the government is affecting the economy and quality of the lives of the people of the country, and not in a good way.  This is what is so characteristic of the criminal acts of money laundering, terrorist financing and bribery.  The leaders may or may not face consequences, depending on whether or not they get caught, but the citizens of a country where corruption is running rampant always suffer.

The investors on the foreign markets did approach the president of Indonesia, Suharto, with their concerns as he is surrounded by the corruption, he himself is known to be an extreme honest person.  He agreed with the concerns of the investors, as well as the people of his country and has pledge to participate in the all-out attack on the illegal, and immoral acts of those involved.

The anti-corruption movement, or fight, has been gaining momentum recently, due to the focus of international organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization for the Economic Cooperation and Development.  Conventions are held regularly to discuss the principles of the ways in which corruption is fought.  Private businesses joined in the fight a few years ago, and there are a number of reasons why it is so important for the involvement of all private companies throughout the world.  The first reason is quite simple, corruption is inherently and ethically wrong.  It is one the worst forms of the mis-use of position and power, and impacts those most who are among the disadvantaged and poorer populations in a community.  The reputation of an entire region can be damaged by a case of corruption, leaving all those left to deal with the consequences in a difficult financial state.  It is just the right way for businesses to operate and the only response when corruption is discovered must be legal penalization.

This also affects business, in that each and every company must concern themselves with the risks involved should they chose to participation in the criminal activities involved with corruption.  Whether a company is involved in bribery, fraud or money laundering, the legal risks and ramifications are great.  It is not only illegal in the United States to practice corrupt transactions within the country, it is also illegal for companies, located in the United States, to practice corrupt ventures in all countries.  This was first indoctrinated in 1977 by the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.   It is more and more becoming a policy that is held in other countries as well.  For agencies to enforce the anti-corruption policies and legislation in the was difficult, due to the non-participation of some of the countries, however the regulations, the laws and the enforcement has been changing.  The mean and the opportunities which allowed those criminal activities to take are diminishing, and it is becoming more difficult for companies to even figure out how to get around the laws and the systems.