Hopefully, one area that many compliance practitioners will not have much experience in is dealing with prosecutors, at least in the in-house, corporate context. Further it may be the case that most in-house lawyers come from a civil law background, as opposed to the criminal law side of the legal profession. Therefore, if an in-house compliance practitioner is required to disclose to, and work with, a federal prosecutor, the in-house practitioner usually does not have experience to draw upon in connection with the types of inquiries a Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutor might ask during a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigation.

Over the past 9 months, and continuing for the next several months, I have been privileged to tour the US with World Check discussing various aspects of the FCPA. Another member of the team is Stephen Martin, the General Counsel of Corpedia. Stephen worked as a prosecutor in the DOJ during the Clinton administration before moving into the corporate world and has a wealth of knowledge on the types of inquiries that a prosecutor might ask during the pendency of a FCPA investigation. In his presentation Stephen suggests that, during a FCPA inquiry, your company might be asked some of the following questions: