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Sun Microsystems May Have Violated Bribery Law
Afforess writes "In a new file submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sun Microsystems admitted that 'we have identified potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the resolution of which could possibly have a material effect on our business.' The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it 'unlawful to make a payment to a foreign official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person.' Yet, Sun would not release further details, only that it 'took remedial action.' Oracle, the new owner of Sun Microsystems, also said that they had prior knowledge of the infraction, yet also refused to release any details."
For those of you that won't RTFA, this may not be a big deal and is fairly common.
For example, in 2007, networking provider Alcatel-Lucent agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle charges that Lucent Technologies, before it was bought by Alcatel SA in 2006, illegally paid for hundreds of trips for Chinese officials to win contracts. In a separate case, IBM Corp. agreed in 2000 to pay $300,000 to settle allegations that its Argentina subsidiary was involved in bribing officials of a government-owned bank to win a contract to upgrade the bank's computer systems.
Dual Opteron < $600
And it's naive to think otherwise. You want to do serious governmental business in Saudi Arabia/Egypt/Jordan? Some shiek/prince/royal family member is going to get some quid pro quo. And quite frankly it's more or less true in America as well. You think those Congressional reelection campaign coffers are going to fill themselves?
Jealously hoarding mod points since 2007.
There are quite a few countries who's culture is substantially different from the United States in which bribery is considered standard business practice. If you dont bribe an official in one of those countries, you dont get anything done.
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Squirrel
It's a law that is almost never followed by companies that do business overseas. And the reason they cite for doing it? Other companies are not bound by such laws and are free to engage in such practices which gives the other companies a "competitive advantage." It is practically chinese national culture that bribery occurs and is quite expected.
But the other reason I love this law is that charges associated with it often disappear with "healthy contributions" to party and individual campaign funds.
That Sun might have been supplementing the expenses of our poor, underpaid UKian MPs......
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
it seems to be standard parctise for multinational companies execs when over seas to bribe the local authorities to get what they want, from paying off a bent police officer in Kenya for safe passage, to stuffing a brown envelope into in irish politician's jacket to give the go ahead for your illgeal gas pipeline. you think the people from outside America lose sleep about paying off and bribing american officials if it is in their intrest? what goes round comes round. and we all pay the price.
This is news?
Stuff that matters?
How and how? Why and Why?
This is just business as usual in Corporate America, and has been for decades.
Glad you finally showed up at the party.
Have a cocktail and a hooker...it's all tax deductible...a business expense!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
except its called "lobbying" where you have entire fully structured million dollar companies employing thousands of people whose sole purpose is to influence laws and social circumstances so that business can get done, at least in other countries they call it what it is aka bribery, the west is constantly inventing new words or re-defining old ones in order to make these nefarious practices as somehow legitimate,
printing money ? quantative easing, bribery ? lobbying, murdering criminals in a war battlefield ? illegal combatants ?, torture ? enhanced interrogation, legalised financial theft ? executive bonuses, pyramid schemes ? hedge funds.
that plank in your eye looks mighty inconvenient
They should be listing any bribes they paid for approving OOXML (;-))
P--dave
davecb@spamcop.net
In my home state there are laws against bribery and corruption of course. One of them pertains to gifts. Included in the banned gifts are food. The rule is that you cannot accept food (usually cookies) from anyone unless you eat it in front of them.
Now that last bit sounds odd, doesn't it. Obviously, the rules do allow you to accept a gift of food if you eat in front of them. So, in practice, this means that if you accept cookies for going the extra mile for somebody, you are CORRUPT and UNETHICAL!!! If, on the other hand, you are a politician and getting bought dinner by a lobbyist, you are a force for righteousness.
Apparently.
It's a law that is almost never followed by companies that do business overseas. And the reason they cite for doing it? Other companies are not bound by such laws and are free to engage in such practices which gives the other companies a "competitive advantage." It is practically chinese national culture that bribery occurs and is quite expected.
But the other reason I love this law is that charges associated with it often disappear with "healthy contributions" to party and individual campaign funds.
It should be noted that this incident so far has nothing to do with China, nor is bribery or such practices restricted to China.
The way you put it, it sounds like you are making a broad generalization about Chinese culture supporting bribery and that Chinese culture is the cause of all this.
It is particularly unsettling that you have singled out its "national culture" for bashing.
For those of you who are interested and have not already seen it, the Foreign Corrupt Practices act and international bribery by large corporations and wealthy individuals was covered in the "Black Money" episode on Frontline. Obviously the Sun case, coming to light more recently and being much smaller than the frauds discussed in the documentary, is not mentioned, but the Sun case is just another smaller instance of a much larger problem.
...and settling in US, I have seen a lot of bribery in Action, here and back home.
Place where I work, large bank here in US, a contractor wins all the contracts for software development. Not because he is competitive, but because he sponsors the directors horse racing team. On paper its clean, XYZ has a horse racing team, PQR sponsors the team. In the bank, Mr XYZ awards all contracts to Mr PQR.
Back home, PQR would have just handed over keys to a new car to XYZ.
That is the only difference.
West has learned how to legalize bribe.
For those of you that won't RTFA, this may not be a big deal and is fairly common.
For example, in 2007, networking provider Alcatel-Lucent agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle charges that Lucent Technologies, before it was bought by Alcatel SA in 2006, illegally paid for hundreds of trips for Chinese officials to win contracts. In a separate case, IBM Corp. agreed in 2000 to pay $300,000 to settle allegations that its Argentina subsidiary was involved in bribing officials of a government-owned bank to win a contract to upgrade the bank's computer systems.
It's nice to know our bribery laws basically equate to "where's our share - signed: the US government"
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
Transparency International: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparency_International and http://www.transparency.org/
It's a tough road to take, but if everybody tolerates corruption, it ain't gonna go away, and it certainly hurts more than it helps.
Bribery stories are my favorite from folks doing business overseas. In order to avoid direct bribery, some companies hire local "consultants," who get paid an obscene fee to help land the contract. What they do with their money doesn't concern the company paying the fee; the bribe is indirect.
My all time favorite was from a government auditor who visited Korea to check up on three local suppliers to the US military. The suppliers made dinner arrangements, and told the auditor where to meet them. When he arrived at the restaurant, there were the three suppliers, with four prostitutes seated at the table, with one empty seat.
What's so funny? The auditor had brought his wife along to see Korea, and came with him to the restaurant. One prostitute got her pay early, and the mood at the table afterwards was uncomfortable.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Well, everybody here in Ukraine knows about M$ paybacks reaching 50%. The same in Russia. Affiliated companies do it every time they sell something to state. But M$ is "holly cow" of American economy and "secret weapon" of CIA so it can not be touched.
One law for all?
When you stand to go to jail, some say it is better to seek a plea bargain in exchange for putting those in cahoots with you behind bars. The goal is to get to the finish line first.
This incidence got caught up in the law. How many others are there that skirt the law, just as 'tax avoidance' is a relabeled 'tax evasion'.
Sun pays off foreign officials, Oracle rumages through garbage cans - excellent combination
Bill Gates is the best example of a "clean" business man being massively successful. Bill's main assets were personality traits, having an parent who was an IP lawyer, and considerable good luck. He definitely engaged in abhorrent business practices, but he never bribe U.S. government politicians until the anti-trust people started coming after him.
I'd say your best bet is avoiding the politician protection racket for as long as possible. It always seems like powerful companies get massive pay offs from public money for the very small investment required to get politicians re-elected, but this ignores the massive "retainer" of getting politicians re-elected year after year. So play the game Bill style, stay away until they make you join the protection racket.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
is interesting, but I have read many other posts in this thread that seem good too.
It's tough to know who to mod up when I can only think about having to pay for my kids braces this year which is going to set me back about $5,000....
Not to excuse our government, but what other option do they really have? Put the multinational corporation's headquarters in jail? Hitting a corporation with a fine is speaking the only language that it cares about.
Frankly, I find it just one more proof of cultural arrogance displayed by our politicians to regulate and criminalize what is clearly considered benign and acceptable behavior by many foreign cultures. We are hell bent on exporting democracy (as if it was some kind of magic sword) and our customs to everyone. In the process of saving everyone from himself we become entangled in countless, absurd wars. Why don't we worry about our own problems, within our own shores?
End anonymous moderation and posting on
The culture in some countries require companies to pay bribes to make anything happen. These are mostly communist countries.
Try to accomplish anything in Russia or China without bribes - either direct "presents" or taking officials into the profit sharing or indirect by hiring their relatives as "consultants" and paying them outrageous salaries.
Another way is to befriend with their police/milicia bosses and use their physical force and intimidation to make sure your business will go smoothly.
Their government bureaucrats are not interesting in improving economy of those countries because the only thing they care is their pocket.
Paid to use Microsoft in South Africa
http://www.education.gov.za/dynamic/dynamic.aspx?pageid=310&id=8553
Also, didn't Microsoft bribe officials to vote for OOXML approval as an ISO standard?
Not to excuse our government, but what other option do they really have? Put the multinational corporation's headquarters in jail? Hitting a corporation with a fine is speaking the only language that it cares about.
How about imposing sanctions on their ability to market products in that nation, or jailing the executives responsible (even if oversaes by using the afore mentioned sanctions as leverage).
No no.. that would have actual TEETH.
if top corps were under threat of instantly losing their ability to sell, or instantly losing their top talent to the depths of federal prison, they would be stricter about their infractions.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
Big deal- when we would set up demo tables at conventions, if you didn't pay the dock boss, they would take their sweet 'ol time getting around to your spot. On the expense report my boss just put in "Bribes".
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
As an american owner of a company in south east asia this is normal here. I set aside 50% of my monthly profits to pay the locals. 30% to the police, 10% to the mayor, and another 10% to other random government officials to get things done. They stop by like clockwork every month to collect their "gifts". If I don't pay my business gets shut down or drugs are suddenly found in my house or property and I have to pay a lot more bribing everyone else to keep me out of jail. In some countries bribing or gifts is not about business as usual it's about survival.
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them
Hence the ACTUAL project is WORTH only 50% in India.
I'd like to buy homeland for our 10 million people. http://twitter.com/mahadiga
...this is the ONLY way to do business! Having lived in Russia for the past 12 years, I have some experience with this. "Do you want your license TODAY, or in 3 YEARS?"... The answer is usually pretty simple...
This is not an instance of "cultural arrogance." It has absolutely nothing to do with the modern exportation of democracy. Instead, it is the exportation of the Rule of Law (at least, in instances where it is in our best economic and political interests.)
Corruption by government officials has been a problem as long as there has been government. There are certainly many countries in which bribery of the bureaucracy is endemic and pragmatically accepted as a fact of life, but I know of none where it is considered harmless. I know of no government, period, that does not have a law against domestic bribery of the bureaucracy.
Unstable and corruption-ridden foreign government makes international trade very difficult and expensive for both parties.
"party contributions" nowadays...
Seriously... where is this different?
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Every unethical person is doing it.
It may come as a surprise to many people that have never worked in a big corporation, but ethics are taken seriously, when individuals decide to ignore ethical guidelines more often than not the guilty party is disciplined, but in many cases you may not get to know about this.
In all the big companies where I have worked we received training about these topics, even if we were not actually facing costumers at all. These training was refreshed at least once a year, and this was for IT people, the business people actually had much more of this.
So do not blame companies willy-nilly, in many (I would say most) cases it is individuals who decide to use their priviledged positions to ignore clear cut company policies.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
How particulars decide to complete business deals is up to them.
The situation you describe is distasteful and perhaps immoral, but I doubt very much it would be considered illegal.
If either party was an elected representative then you would have a point, as it stands you simply look completely confused....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I was part of big projects in Mexico and at no point bribery was asked for, encouraged or existing.
The company where I worked did not countenance this, and everybody in the industry knew it.
Unsurprisingly we were very busy, our government clients knew we where trustworthy and were more comfortable dealing with us.
At the end it is your ethics, if you can't makes business without doing things that are immoral or illegal you simply excruciate yourself from such deals, nothing is forcing you to associate with corrupt people.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
They work very successfully in a Southern African country, and they haven't ever given a bribe.
They make this clear and that they will not work if they are asked one.
If people know you are not in the pull then they don't even try it.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.