[Vnbiz] Intel Vietnam refuses to pay bribes

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear brother Phong & CACC,

I don't know if there is statistics about FCPA exists.  You can do the
research yourself to find that out.  I know that we lawyers treat it very
seriously.  ALL American international trade lawyers I met, without ONE
single exception, mention FCPA every time we discuss the potential of doing
business with Vietnam.  Many lawyers I know have decided to stay away from
Vietnam and counseled their clients to hold off on Vietnam ventures, citing
corruption and FCPA.  Others, like me, decided to do work in Vietnam while
staying faithful to FCPA regardless whether we could make a deal or not (In
fact, I told ALL my clients before agreeing to represent them on Vietnam
business issues that I do not do corruption and if they don't agree with
that position, I can't represent them).

If that is not serious treatment of the law, then what is?

About brother Phong's recommendation:

A set of anti-corruption laws must be in place.
A free and independent press plays the most important role in exposing
corruption.
A fair, competent, and independent court is necessary to prosecute
corruption

This is a reasonable recommendation, except by itself it won't work.  If the
free and independnet press is corrupt and the independent court is corrupt,
anti-corruption law doesn't help.  And that is precisely the South Vietnam's
pre-1975 experience.  I grew up pondering over that sorry experience every
day of  my college life.  And this is what sis Bich Lien said missing
besides legislation.

The law and the system, regardless of how well it is designed, won't help
much if the people in the system who runs the system is so corrupt.

Brother Andi talks about economic issue, yes it may be correct in some
cases.  But corruption has little to do with not making enough money.  Most
corrupt people have more money than they ever need (in the relative sense,
compared with others around them).  Just look around.

The entire issue has to do with ethics, the voluntary sense of right and
wrong in the people's heart.  A good law and good system doesn't hurt and
actually will help in many instances, but the foundation upon which the law
stands, the ethics, has to be strong.  As long as we don't realize that we
have to work on building a strong ethics foundation in the people, i.e.
making people believe in honesty, social responsibility, etc. then the law
can't do its job well.  (Unfortunately, many among us either disregard
ethics or even go so far as to say that ethics is not necessary in solving
governng issues.  Sad!)

Ethics, while having its own system of reward and punishment, has a lot to
do with voluntary human conduct.  Are we going to recongnize the deep
problem of our conduct or we simply want to work at things on the surface
like law and econ and system?  I am an economic lawyers, specialized in
economic litigation, so I love the law and econ.  But I also know their
limit when it comes to human conduct.  Things that start deep in the human
heart, surface system won't solve.

In that sense, Intel Vietnam's effort plays an incredibly big deal in
setting the ethical tone for Vietnam's business environment.  I predict that
many years from now, Intel Vietnam's memorandum on ethics today will be
mentioned as a milestone in Vietnam's business development in the mopdern
time.  Of course, this memorandum helps Intel do business easier, but that
self-interest doesn't take away its siginificant impact on Vietnam's
environment.

Have a great day!

Hoanh


On 8/15/07, Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov <Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov> wrote:

> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
>
> Dear anh Hoanh,
> You can't have it both ways claiming to be a heavy-dosed corporate lawyer
> and saying that FCPA is not your expertise.
> When a lawyer doesn't know some part of the law, he does research (or get
> the paralegal to do it for him).
> How many cases were successfully prosecuted?  You may also want to find
> out  about FCPA's exceptions.
> I am saying that FCPA is not a good law, it is great.  But I think we need
> to be careful to match principle with action if we wish to avoid being
> perceived as hypocrites.
> "Our lawyer told me so or our accountant told me" so are not legal
> defense.
> Companies' main goal is to maximize profits.  Being careful not to run
> afoul of the law does not deviate from that goal if being caught and
> prosecuted hurt the bottom line.  Otherwise, if the penalty is light,
> companies will make the conscious decision to brake law and pay the fines.
>  Its ethical when defined as rules and standards, but not moral principles
> or values.
> HPP
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
> Washington DC
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.saigon.com/pipermail/vnbiz/attachments/20070815/5f1df7d1/attachment.html