(PANA)
Lagos, Nigeria - A Nigerian NGO has sent a request to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), urging it to “establish an efficient case-by-case process for the payment of some or all of US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) civil penalty and disgorgement proceeds to or for the benefit of the victimized foreign government agency or the citizens of the affected foreign country like Nigeria.”
In a statement made available to PANA here Sunday, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) also said “civil society groups in the home country, or US-nonprofit organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Carter Centre serving that country, be eligible to apply for such proceeds as well, or instead, for use for “public benefit projects” in the affected foreign country, subject to anti-corruption safeguards.”
The request, dated 15 March 2012 and addressed to Robert Khuzami, Director of the Enforcement Division of SEC, was made by SERAP’s Volunteer Counsel Alexander W. Sierck, who is Adjunct Professor at the prestigious Georgetown University Law Centre, where he teaches a course on international white collar crime, the statement said.
SERAP said that at the moment, ''the civil penalty and disgorgement proceeds that companies agree to pay to resolve US FCPA investigations are retained by the US government.
“Yet, procurement and investment agreements corrupted by foreign bribery invariably lead to increased costs, not only in higher prices but also in needlessly expanded and ultimately inefficient projects in victimized societies. This has often been the case in Nigeria, where damage remedies are often elusive,” the organization said.
It also said that its request “would not impede the Division’s enforcement priorities,” arguing that the organization is “well-qualified to propose and help implement sensible discretionary remedies for victims of FCPA.”
According to the organization, “victimized governmental agencies are typically without a practical remedy for recovering their economic injury attributable to foreign bribery and corruption''
It said while local law can, in theory, provide for a remedy, litigation in the local courts is often fraught with political risk, and can be time-consuming and expensive in the best of circumstances.
''Even if such cases are eventually successful, enforcement of judgments, locally and internationally, present formidable challenges as well. In SERAP’s experience, all of this is true in the Nigerian context,” SERAP said.
Lagos, Nigeria - A Nigerian NGO has sent a request to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), urging it to “establish an efficient case-by-case process for the payment of some or all of US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) civil penalty and disgorgement proceeds to or for the benefit of the victimized foreign government agency or the citizens of the affected foreign country like Nigeria.”
In a statement made available to PANA here Sunday, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) also said “civil society groups in the home country, or US-nonprofit organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Carter Centre serving that country, be eligible to apply for such proceeds as well, or instead, for use for “public benefit projects” in the affected foreign country, subject to anti-corruption safeguards.”
The request, dated 15 March 2012 and addressed to Robert Khuzami, Director of the Enforcement Division of SEC, was made by SERAP’s Volunteer Counsel Alexander W. Sierck, who is Adjunct Professor at the prestigious Georgetown University Law Centre, where he teaches a course on international white collar crime, the statement said.
SERAP said that at the moment, ''the civil penalty and disgorgement proceeds that companies agree to pay to resolve US FCPA investigations are retained by the US government.
“Yet, procurement and investment agreements corrupted by foreign bribery invariably lead to increased costs, not only in higher prices but also in needlessly expanded and ultimately inefficient projects in victimized societies. This has often been the case in Nigeria, where damage remedies are often elusive,” the organization said.
It also said that its request “would not impede the Division’s enforcement priorities,” arguing that the organization is “well-qualified to propose and help implement sensible discretionary remedies for victims of FCPA.”
According to the organization, “victimized governmental agencies are typically without a practical remedy for recovering their economic injury attributable to foreign bribery and corruption''
It said while local law can, in theory, provide for a remedy, litigation in the local courts is often fraught with political risk, and can be time-consuming and expensive in the best of circumstances.
''Even if such cases are eventually successful, enforcement of judgments, locally and internationally, present formidable challenges as well. In SERAP’s experience, all of this is true in the Nigerian context,” SERAP said.
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