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social science subjects > law > public law > administrative law > Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Preferred term

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act  

Definition

  • IN THE WAKE of Watergate and several corporate scandals in the 1970s, Congress and the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) turned their attention to investigate corporate business practices. A SEC survey covering a large number of American corporations revealed that about 350 corporations were involved in bribing of foreign officials and were contributing to political campaigns of foreign politicians to the tune of $750 million in order to receive lucrative government contracts.Major oil companies (for example, Gulf Oil, Mobil Oil) and defense contractors (Lockheed, Northrop, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas) were involved in some of the well-known bribery cases. [Source: Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime; Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]

Belongs to group

Date

  • 1977

URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act

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