Originally Posted by
BizJetJock
I think you'll find the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act goes way beyond anything the UK deems illegal. They also have a hugely better track record of actually prosecuting those they go after. So I don't think it's a case of "leave it to the Americans". More likely the French...
A little over 20 years ago, Boeing assigned me to a foreign country - not too long after the above noted Lockheed scandal. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that if I did anything that could be construed as 'bribery', I'd be immediately fired. Problem was, the civil servants in this particular country were not well paid, and they expected nominal 'personal fees' to do their job - such as processing my long term visa application
. It actually got to the point that I was going to have to leave the country because my temporary visa was about to expire. Finally the local Boeing manager came to my rescue. He grabbed some Boeing trinkets - key chains, tie clips, etc. - and together we walked my visa application through the local bureaucracy rewarding each individual with a trinket when they'd finished their particular task.
We could give away trinkets - but not cash