The U.S. Goes After Bribery, on a Budget

In 2007 the Justice Dept. issued a subpoena to Panalpina, a Swiss freight company with offices in 38 U.S. states. Investigators suspected the company’s employees had paid bribes to African customs officials on behalf of its oil customers—a violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Watergate-era law prohibiting companies that operate in the U.S. from bribing foreign governments. If found guilty, the company could have faced crippling fines or even a ban on receiving U.S. government contracts.

But proving bribery would have taken prosecutors years of work and plenty of money to untangle the details. The 15 Justice lawyers who work full-time on foreign corruption can’t devote that manpower to every case. So the government did something that has become increasingly common: It got Panalpina to investigate itself—and to pick up the tab.