News about Quebec legal developments
The majority of foreign bribes were paid by large companies, usually with the knowledge of senior management, to officials from developed countries to win contracts and cut through red tape, reveals an eye-opening report from a leading think tank that shatters many commonly-held preconceptions about corruption risks.
Continue reading “OECD report challenges widely-held assumptions on foreign bribery”
The former mayor of a Montreal bedroom community facing corruption-related charges will have to foot her own legal defence bills after the Quebec Court of Appeal held that the municipality did not have to pay for her defence because the alleged acts did not take place while she was performing duties of an elected member.
The precedent-setting ruling sends a clear message to elected municipal councillors who were counting on jurisprudence and the seemingly clear-cut wording of the Quebec Cities and Towns Act to compel municipalities to cover their legal fees when faced with criminal proceedings, according to municipal law experts.
Companies that have been barred from bidding on public contracts stand little chance of obtaining injunctive relief that would temporarily suspend a new law aimed at curbing corruption in the construction industry, following a closely-watched ruling by Quebec Superior Court.
The professional corporations overseeing lawyers and engineers declared recently that they now intend to get even tougher on crooked professionals. Zero tolerance, declared Nicholas Plourde, who stepped down earlier this month as the head of the Quebec bar. The president of the Quebec engineering professional corporation stated that his organization is “determined to get to the heart of the matter and restore public trust.”
When General Electric Company agreed last August to pay US$23.4 million to settle charges laid by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its involvement in a US$3.6 million kickback scheme with Iraqi government agencies to win contracts to supply medical and water purification equipment, it was the latest of an impressive long list of multinationals that paid the price of Washington’s newfound resolve to crack down on corporate bribery.
The Americans now mean business. Largely dormant since becoming law in 1977, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the SEC have over the past two years vigorously enforced the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), going so far as to launch sting operations while levying penalties unimaginable a couple of years ago.