President of the United States (POTUS), Donald Trump has lifted restrictions that previously penalized American companies for bribing foreign officials, including those in Nigeria.
Trump signed the Executive Order directing the country’s Justice Department to pause prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the US law prohibiting American citizens and businesses from bribing foreign government officials to gain or retain business on Monday.
The president asked the US attorney general to pause prosecution under this law until a revised enforcement guidance that promotes American competitiveness is issued.
“It sounds good on paper, but in practicality, it’s a disaster,” Trump said. “It means that if an American goes over to a foreign country and starts doing business over there, legally, legitimately or otherwise, it’s almost a guaranteed investigation indictment, and nobody wants to do business with the Americans because of it.”
He added: “It was a Jimmy Carter concept, and it sounds so good, but it’s so bad. It hurts the country and many, many deals are unable to be made because nobody wants to do business.”
The law, enacted in 1977 under President Jimmy Carter’s administration, applies to US and foreign companies listed on the country’s stock exchanges.
The suspension of the FCPA will likely increase unethical practices and weaken global anti-bribery efforts, experts say.
The act has been a cornerstone of US anti-corruption policies, holding multinational companies accountable for unethical business practices abroad.
A notable case involving Nigeria was the 2009 prosecution of officials of Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of US oil and energy contractor Halliburton, for bribing Nigerian government officials.
The US government ordered the company to pay a $402 million fine.
Similarly, in 2023, the US indicted Glencore Plc, a global trading and mining firm, for paying $100 million in bribes to officials in developing countries, including Nigeria, to secure contracts and evade audits.
Outside Nigeria, in 2017, Halliburton was fined $29.2 million for bribing Angolan officials to obtain lucrative deals.
With the FCPA now on hold, there are concerns that enforcement actions will decline and unethical business practices will worsen.
According to Transparency International, the US anti-corruption watchdog, the FCPA made the US a leader in addressing global corruption.
The organisation said Trump’s executive order could pave the way for eliminating the country’s fight against global corruption.
