Corruption doesn’t pay, unless it’s no longer prosecuted

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I admit, I am ambivalent about bribery. Not about being bribed myself or me bribing anyone. I would never do any of that. But I am under no illusions that there are countries where the only way to get anything done is to pay ‘kickbacks’, ‘incentive payments’, or other forms of bribery.My personal experience in that area comes from my childhood. Both my parents are from Hungary, and when I was small, we went back and forth between Germany and then-communist Hungary once or twice a year. Inevitably, we would get stopped at the border or by a police car on the road because – well – we were driving a German car with German registration plates. Inevitably, these checks could last for an hour or more. Or they could be ‘expedited’ by conveniently forgetting a couple of Deutschmarks in the documentation you handed to the officer.Facing these realities, some countries allow their businesses to pay bribes in jurisdictions where this is considered a common or necessary practice. In Switzerland, it was for many years legal for businesses to deduct foreign bribes as an expense and lower their tax liability – though this rule has since been changed.In the UK and the US, paying bribes is illegal, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) allows the SEC to prosecute any company listed on a US Stock exchange (even European ones with ADRs trading in the US) if they paid bribes anywhere in the world. On average, FCPA fines were $150 million per case that the SEC enforced.Then came Donald Trump, and in February 2025, he suspended any prosecution under the FCPA and signed an executive order …