沃尔玛只是美国公司海外行贿的冰山一角

    或许沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）应该用“法不责众”来为自己辩护。

    零售业巨头沃尔玛被指控为了快速获得开店许可，经常对墨西哥官员行贿。然而，过去几年，被指控涉嫌商业贿赂的美国公司，不止沃尔玛一家。本周三，又有两家公司爆出行贿丑闻。美国证券交易委员会（The Securities and Exchange Commission，SEC）指控摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）前高管盖斯•彼得森为了替公司招揽业务，向一家中国国有企业的官员行贿。同一天，传媒业巨头新闻集团（News Corp.）承认，受到电话窃听丑闻的影响，目前美国政府正在对该公司进行贿赂调查。

    目前，至少有81家上市公司因涉嫌违反《反海外腐败法》（Foreign Corrupt Practices Act，FCPA），正在接受美国证券交易委员会或司法部的调查。美国《反海外腐败法》规定，在其他国家行贿将在美国受到处罚。此外，越来越多的公司开始在财务文件中披露，虽然公司尽了最大努力阻止行贿行为，但仍可能存在员工违反美国反海外商业贿赂法规的情况。

    如果没有美国法律的限制，有些公司也许会对行贿的做法举双手赞成。比如，纽约长岛一家工业防护服制造商雷克兰工业公司（Lakeland Industries）近期表示，由于公司遵守美国法律，没有像其他竞争对手一样行贿，结果导致公司销量下降。当然，迫使公司有意申报比实际更低的利润，会计法的存在也是原因之一。

    目前，因涉嫌行贿而成为美国政府调查对象的公司包括惠普公司（Hewlett-Packard）、电信公司高通（Qualcomm）、农业设备制造商美国迪尔公司（Deere & Co.）、化妆品公司雅芳（Avon）、博彩公司拉斯维加斯金莎集团（Las Vegas Sands），以及共和党捐款大户查尔斯•科赫与大卫•科赫旗下的德州科氏工业集团（Koch Industries）。此外，美国证监会正在调查，美国电影制作公司是否通过贿赂手段打入中国娱乐市场。据称美国证监会的调查对象分别是：新闻集团旗下的二十世纪福克斯公司（20th Century Fox）、迪斯尼（Disney）和梦工厂动画公司（DreamWorks Animation）。而美国司法部曾表示，去年其根据《反海外腐败法》立案150起，调查涉及的对象既有个人，也有公司。

    Perhaps Wal-Mart (WMT) should try the "everyone does it" defense.

    The giant retailer, which is accused of regularly bribing Mexican officials in order to quickly obtain permits to open stores, is far from the only U.S. company that has been caught greasing the wheels of commerce in the past few years. Two more examples of that came on Wednesday. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former Morgan Stanley executive Garth Peterson with bribing an official of a state-owned Chinese company in order to win business for the investment firm. Also on Wednesday, media conglomerate News Corp. confirmed that it too was the subject of a U.S. bribery investigation, more fall-out from its phone hacking scandal.

    There are at least 81 public companies under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Department of Justice for running afoul of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes bribery in foreign countries punishable in the U.S. In addition, a growing number of companies have started placing disclosures in their financial documents that say their employees may at times violate the U.S.'s overseas bribery law, despite the company's best efforts to prevent it.

    Other companies seem to be all for bribes were it not for U.S. laws prohibiting them. For example, Lakeland Industries (LAKE), a Long Island, New York, manufacturer of industrial safety garments, recently said its inability to pay bribes, due to the fact that it, unlike its competitors, follows U.S. laws, has lowered the company's sales. Undoubtedly, accounting laws are also forcing the company to report lower profits than it would like as well.

    Among the companies already in the cross-hairs of the U.S. government for committing bribery are Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), telecommunications company Qualcomm (QCOM), farm equipment maker Deere & Co. (DE), cosmetic company Avon (AVP), casino company Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Koch Industries, the Texas conglomerate run by prominent Republican donors Charles and David Koch. On top of that, the SEC has also recently launched an inquiry into whether U.S. movies studios have been using bribes to break into the Chinese entertainment market. News Corp's 20th Century Fox, Disney and DreamWorks Animation have all reportedly been contacted by the SEC. For its part, the Department of Justice last year said that it had 150 open investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Some of those might be against individuals as well as companies.