Zoocap

One of the doctrines to be instated by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FCPA is the policy of Know Your Customer.  This is a set of procedures that outline the ways to go about completing a thorough investigation into the background of a potential client, customer, or business associate. This investigation will “weed out” potential criminal activity and provide a corporation or a financial institution the information necessary to assess the character and the ethics of an entity or an individual with whom they are considering becoming involved.  These are not just policies and procedures to follow, this is the law. In the United States, when a company does follow this and the procedures with due diligence, and a corporation, foreign official, or customer that they are involved with becomes convicted of a crime of corruption, they themselves will be held criminally responsible as well. When one is investigating anything, there are red flags when an aspect is amiss.

When the figures are inconsistent, that is a red flag. When business or financial transactions are inexplicable, that is a red flag.  As stated before, this is not just a duty or a part of one’s job, it is federal law to make note of such red flags, and to take the proper steps in not only discovering the truth, but reporting the findings to the proper agencies of investigation and enforcement.  On the practical level it is just good business sense to not involve one’s self or the corporation in criminal activity.  One risks not only losing their company, but imprisonment as well. On the ethical level , it is just not right to continue doing business with those who fund the activities of terrorists or with leaders whose corrupt actions have a detrimental effect on the people of their country.  And on the legal level, should one be truly innocent in criminal activity, having the proof to back up oneself will be the defense in either an investigation or in the court proceedings that follow.

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