Chow time
Lawyers are often depicted as evil beings who dream of nightmarish schemes to evade the law and deliver injustice. Most times, they get away with it. Once in a while though, they are caught, and despite protesting that they are just complying with the instructions of their client, boss, or principal, they end up paying for the crime.
Such was the case of Jeffery Chow, a senior lawyer for one of Singapore's most respected conglomerates, Keppel. You would have thought with Singapore's reputation, corruption and bribery scandals would be rare, even impossible. And I personally have encountered fine and upstanding Keppel officials, having served as assistant corporate secretary to the board of local subsidiary Keppel Cebu. But this perception was proven wrong with the recent scandal in Brazil.
The US Justice Department said that last year Keppel paid $55 million to bribe Brazilian officials and political party members to get them billion-dollar contracts there.
So what did Chow do? Nothing major like trying to persuade the Brazilians to take money or being the bagman himself. From news reports, all he did was draft the contracts to be signed with the company rep in Brazil, contracts intended to be used as the legitimate cover. The overpayments to the contract price were then funneled to the Brazilians.
As you know, the American government has strict laws about corruption abroad, so even if the crime happened abroad so long as an American is involved or a company is doing business on American shores, then American courts can claim jurisdiction and prosecute. It's what they call the long arm of the law, made manifest in all its prosecutorial glory.
Chow is an American citizen, and Keppel had a joint venture with an American company, and so when that scandal came out (the fallout of which is still ongoing), the Keppel participation came to light, and American justice officials started nosing around.
So now, Chow is participating in the investigation, pleading guilty in a Brooklyn court to violations of the FCPA (look it up, it's hard to explain) and in his statement, ruing his participation. Chow said "I should have refused to draft the contracts that we used for paying bribes, and I should have resigned from Keppel."
So all he did was draft the contract. I think most lawyers think they were safe if all they did was hand over a draft document to a client. I mean, one never knows if it will get signed or not, right? But it looks like this was what caught Chow in the net.
That, my dears, is now the new standard for the ethical choice to be made at that point in time. Refusal, and then resignation. Because he didn't, Chow became complicit in the crime. (We will know on May 2 what kind of penalty he will get after he pleaded guilty to the crime. That's when he'll be sentenced by the court.) Meanwhile, the reputation of Keppel has been stained, agreeing to pay $422 million bucks to settle its own charges.
Reuters reports that Keppel has issued a statement saying this behavior was "not acceptable" and that this was not how they do business, and that they have taken "robust steps" to strengthen their internal control mechanisms (as they should, if they want to save any further harm to their reputation).
And now, lawyers in the Philippines will have to take note and take their cue from this. Some of their previous behavior will have to be adjusted -especially if they do work for American clients. Fair warning.
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