United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined technology firm Oracle Corporation over $23 million on charges that it violated provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
The charge is that Oracle’s subsidiaries in India created and used slush funds – money that is improperly accounted typically for illicit purposes – to “bribe foreign officials” in return for business, between 2016 and 2019. The fine include activities in Turkey and the UAE, which are unrelated to the India activity.
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Oracle has agreed to cease and desist from committing violations of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA and to pay approximately $8 million in disgorgement and a $15 million penalty.