The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits companies operating in the US from bribing foreign officials to secure business deals
In a move that has sent shockwaves through the global anti-corruption community, US President Donald Trump’s executive order on Monday effectively suspended the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for 180 days. The order bars federal prosecutors from launching new investigations or pursuing enforcement actions, raising serious concerns about the future of corporate accountability and the fight against transnational bribery.
The FCPA, enacted in 1977, is the world’s oldest and most influential and enforced anti-corruption law. It prohibits companies operating in the US from bribing foreign officials to secure business deals. As the first legislation to criminalise corporate bribery, it paved the way for national laws around the world and ultimately led to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the most comprehensive global anti-corruption treaty.
Trump’s order raises critical legal and ethical questions. While it explicitly halts criminal investigations, its effect on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — which often pursues civil enforcement actions alongside the justice department — remains unclear. Civil and criminal penalties under the FCPA have historically resulted in multimillion-dollar fines and even prison sentences for corporate executives. Now, with the order in place, pending investigations may be abandoned, allowing unscrupulous actors to escape accountability.
The implications for Africa — and other developing regions — are particularly dire. Corruption facilitated by multinational corporations is not a victimless crime; it acts as an invisible tax on everyday citizens, driving up costs for goods and services. Bribery distorts competition, ensuring that government contracts go not to the most qualified bidder but to the one willing to pay the highest bribes. The result? Substandard infrastructure, faulty medical equipment and unsafe public services — all of which can have deadly consequences.
The long reach of the FCPA has exposed bribery schemes across Africa, implicating both US and non-US firms with ties to the American financial system. Last year, McKinsey & Company Africa (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of the global consulting giant McKinsey & Company Inc, agreed to pay more than $122 million to settle a justice department investigation into bribes paid to South African officials at Transnet and Eskom — two state-owned enterprises that have turned South Africa into a global laughingstock.
Transnet, responsible for ports, rails and pipelines, has become synonymous with mismanagement, while Eskom’s rolling blackouts left the country quite literally in the dark. But South Africa isn’t alone.
The FCPA’s scope extends beyond US firms, as seen in the case of Technip SA, a Paris-based engineering company that paid a staggering $240 million penalty for its role in a decade-long bribery scheme involving Nigerian officials to secure lucrative engineering and construction contracts.
The total penalties in the case reached $917 million, underscoring the scale of corporate corruption in securing African government deals. Even some of Africa’s poorest nations have been entangled in FCPA enforcement, as demonstrated in 2015 when Houston-based Hyperdynamics Corporation, operating in Guinea, was fined $75,000 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over questionable payments linked to potential bribery.
Beyond economic damage, corruption erodes governance, fuels human rights abuses, and exacerbates poverty. Where bribery thrives, so too does political instability and insecurity. The symbiotic relationship between corrupt officials and corporate enablers fosters impunity, making it harder for governments to implement reforms that serve the public interest.
Trump’s executive order sends the wrong signal at a time when global anti-corruption efforts — bolstered by the proposed international anti-corruption court, the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and international law — are gaining momentum. Weakening the FCPA is not just a domestic policy shift, it undermines decades of progress in the fight against corporate bribery.
The international community must not remain passive. If the US retreats from its leadership role, other nations must step up by rigorously enforcing their own anti-bribery laws in alignment with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Ensuring strict compliance with international anti-corruption norms is not just a legal obligation but a moral imperative to protect the world’s most vulnerable from the devastating effect of abuse of power.
Prosper S Maguchu is an assistant professor of law specialising in financial crimes and international asset recovery from a human rights based approach.