The long arm of international law is catching up with companies caught bribing. Not only have there been an increase in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions brought by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is now updating its 1997 anti-bribery convention. That should be completed in March.

But most European companies remain either unaware that they could be caught out by the American law, or fail to have an FCPA compliance program, according to the Ethical Corporation journal.

A foreign company is liable under the FCPA if it has a US listing, or if it as US headquarters or operations, or uses the US banking system.

In his D&O Diary blog, Kevin LaCroix does an excellent job explaining why foreign bribery allegations will be the next big corporate scandal. This will happen for a few reasons. The DoJ and SEC are now targeting specific industries, from medical devices to technology. Also, the regulators have targeted companies doing business in countries where bribery is part of the local business culture, from Nigeria to China, and there is more co-operation with foreign governments.

Another very good reason is simply globalization. As Martin Weinstein , a partner at law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher tells the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel newsletter: "You may be required to take on a joint-venture partner or a local agent or do business with a state-owned company. These indirect relationships are responsible for 60 to 70 percent of all the big corruption cases. For example, you have to know your agents, be assured they are doing the right thing, and make sure they are compensated properly. Since they are not the company's employees, they may not be within the company's training program and often don't get the same compliance DNA injected into them that regular employees do.