NEW YORK (TIP): R. Shunmugasundaram, a Senior Advocate of Supreme Court of India and a former Member of Parliament – Rajya Sabha the only delegate to attend from India said anti-bribery, anti-corruption and the expectation of fair and ethical business practices from private sector is a hot topic in today’s world-wide political, economic and confidence crises. The effectiveness and efficacy of Indian Prevention of Corruption Act to combat corruption in government agencies and public sector businesses in India came up for discussion at a seminar organized by New York State Bar Association and Paris-based Internationale des Advocats (UIA – International Association of Lawyers) held in New York City. The two-day seminar – Global Integrity Challenges for Enterprise Management & Anti-corruption and Anti-money Laundering – was attended by corporate attorneys from many part of the world.

The seminar was organized by the UIA and the New York State Bar Association’s International Section with the support of the American Bar Association Section of International Law (ABA-SIL) The forum provided comprehensive overview of the current situation in the US, Europe and Latin America on monitoring integrity – including corruption – risks companies are facing, handling internal audits and assessing and treating unwelcome findings. Topics such as general overview on international corruption prevention legislation and recent anti-corruption enforcement trends in targeted industries were discussed by some of the best legal minds, he said.

The experts debated on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and its international enforcement, discussion of the FCPA guidelines, review of recent cases pursued by the US Department of Justice and the Securities Exchange Commission, as well as examples of cases where a company deftly avoided prosecution. Issues such as anti-corruption laws of other countries such as the UK Bribery Act, the Indian Prevention of Corruption Act, the Chinese Anti-unfair Competition Act, as well as the OECD’s Anti- Bribery Convention came up and the panelists discussed how cooperation among prosecutors in countries across the globe has led to better coordinated prosecution of bribery, he added. The US has stringent laws in place for its registered corporate entities indulging in corrupt practices offshore and hands in stringent punishment.