Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 1977 (US) (FCPA)
Summary
US statute prohibiting US persons and companies (and foreign companies listed on US exchanges) from bribing foreign officials. DOJ and SEC have extensive extraterritorial enforcement reach. The FCPA also has an accounting/books and records provision. Relevant where Sri Lankan officials received corrupt payments from US-listed corporations.
Relevance to the diaspora
Tamil diaspora researchers documenting corruption in Sri Lanka's arms procurement or post-war development contracts involving US entities can provide leads to DOJ or SEC investigations under the FCPA; successful FCPA investigations have brought international attention to corruption in conflict contexts.
Key provisions
- 15 USC §78dd-1 — prohibition on bribery of foreign officials (issuers)
- 15 USC §78dd-2 — prohibition (domestic concerns)
- 15 USC §78m — books and records provision
- Jurisdictional reach — persons/entities with any nexus to US territory or financial system
Primary source
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title15/chapter2B-1&edition=prelimRelated entries
Where this law is used in the archive
No dossier, desk or evidence pack currently relies on this entry. It is indexed and sourced, but not yet load-bearing anywhere in the archive.