is the growing spectre of bribery allega- tions. Canadian public companies must pay particular attention in light of the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, which became law in 1999. "One would normally say that companies that are blue chip, or extremely well known and reputable, would not engage in brib- ery," says Riyaz Dattu, a partner in Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP's Toronto office who focuses on international trade and
investment law. "But the experience of the United States shows otherwise." German car company Daimler was
forced to pay US$185 million to set- tle bribery charges in March following accusations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it paid tens of millions of dollars to secure government contracts throughout the world. In 2008, German engineering group Siemens paid US$800 million to U.S. authorities to
settle charges stemming from accusations of bribery and corruption. That shows why all companies, including Canadians, listed on U.S. exchanges must also be guarding against corruption. Dattu points out there is no limita-
tion period on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and advises in-house coun- sel to put a compliance program in place. At the same time, many of these accu- sations arise during the due diligence
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