Corporate ethics

US Chamber of Commerce flirts with moral hazard in FCPA fight

Topics: 
USA, White-collar crime, Corporate ethics, Foreign corrupt practices legislation
Rating: 
2

David Riker – January 9, 2012

The US Chamber of Commerce, Washington’s largest lobbying organization, spent more than $700,000 in 2011 in its quest to curb the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Is that really what’s best for American businesses?

Invoking the rhetoric of a populist manifesto, the Chamber is trying to make the case that increased enforcement of the FCPA has had a chilling effect on US businesses, causing them to avoid doing deals abroad for fear of setting off a FCPA investigation. But while this sentiment sounds pro-America, it is actually quite the opposite.

Investment protection agency needed

Topics: 
Corporate ethics, Financial industry
Rating: 
3

Dave Mabell – January 6, 2012

Robbers are taking $60 billion from Canadians every year. But the police and the politicians are doing nothing to stop them, a Lethbridge audience was warned Thursday.

That estimated $60 billion is as high as the cost of all the nation's other crimes combined, pointed out veteran financial coach Larry Elford. And it's crippling North America's economy. "This is not a recession," he told the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs. "This is a robbery, and you are the victims."

Company Retaliation Against Whistleblowers Rises To All-Time High

Topics: 
Reprisals, Corporate ethics, Research
Rating: 
2

Jillian Berman – January 6, 2012

Even though more workers are witnessing violations of company rules, they're feeling pressure not to say anything. Nearly half of workers witnessed a violation of the law or their company's ethics policy, according to the 2011 National Business Ethics Survey.

Though 65 percent of workers who saw a violation reported it -- an all-time high -- retaliation against whistle blowers rose to a high as well: More than a fifth of employees who reported a violation said they experienced some kind of retaliation.

Keystone whistleblower alleges shoddy materials along original pipeline

Topics: 
Corporate ethics, Oil & gas industry, Environment
Rating: 
0

Lee-Anne Goodman – January 3, 2012

A former inspector for a company that did work on TransCanada's original Keystone pipeline is accusing the Calgary-based company of a cavalier disregard for the environment.

Mike Klink was an engineer for construction company Bechtel Corp., a contractor that worked on the first portion of the Keystone pipeline that carries Alberta oilsands crude to refineries in the American Midwest. It was completed in 2010; the controversial Keystone XL would extend that pipeline to Gulf Coast refineries.

Pipeline Safety Monitoring Software Deliberately Crippled: Whistleblowers

Topics: 
Corporate ethics, Oil & gas industry, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
3

Greg Palast – December 16, 2011

Whistleblowers have told Britain's "Dispatches" that the safety software on major US pipelines contains deliberate errors - and so pipelines can - and have - busted, leaked, exploded ... and killed.

Congressional Republicans are holding extended unemployment benefits hostage until President Obama agrees to speed up approval to build the XL Keystone pipeline. XL Keystone will slice down through the entire width of the USA, moving tar-sands oil from Canada to Houston.

Japanese nuclear firm says it 'no longer owns' fallout

Topics: 
Corporate ethics, Nuclear industry
Rating: 
3

Rick Wallace – December 27, 2011

In terms of sheer chutzpah, Tokyo Electric Power Co's claim that it no longer owns the radioactive isotopes that spewed out of its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March takes some beating.

In defending a lawsuit from a Fukushima Prefecture golf club, lawyers said the radioactive cesium that had blighted the Sunfield Nihonmatsu golf course's fairways and greens was the club's problem. The utility has taken a similarly hard line defending claims from ryokan (inn) and onsen (spa) owners.

Canadian Mining Companies Lack Accountability

Topics: 
Corporate ethics, Resources industry
Rating: 
4

The following is an excerpt from a report by NewsWatch Canada identifying the top 25 underreported stories of 2010-2011. This is just one of the 25 topics identified in the report.

Canada is home to the majority of the world’s mining companies. The following are examples of environmental and human rights abuses that have been occurring around the world as a result of actions of Canadian mining companies:

Goldcorp’s mining project in Peñasquito, Mexico is depleting water supplies in the area. The mine, which uses an irrigation system known to cause environmental problems, is also negatively impacting local residents. Adjacent communities have reported increased health issues involving cancer and nervous system disorders most likely caused by exposure to toxic materials from the mine. Furthermore, Goldcorp has not been paying taxes on their mining profits, taxes that should be going to the local community as required by Mexican law.

BP says Halliburton 'intentionally destroyed evidence' after Gulf oil spill

Topics: 
Corporate ethics, Oil & gas industry
Rating: 
2

Vivian Kuo – December 6, 2011

BP is accusing Halliburton of having "intentionally destroyed evidence" related to the explosion aboard an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The accusation comes in court papers filed by BP Monday in federal court in New Orleans as part of a lawsuit aimed at having sanctions imposed on Halliburton Energy Services Inc., which was a contractor for BP on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

Norway fund blacklists FMC, Potash over ethics

Topics: 
Corporate ethics, Africa, Resources industry
Rating: 
3

Agence France-Presse – December 6, 2011

Norway's state pension fund, one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world, has blacklisted investment in US chemicals firm FMC Corporation and Canadian fertiliser maker Potash over ethics concerns, Oslo said Tuesday.

"The companies' conduct represents particularly serious violations of fundamental ethical norms... The breaches result from the companies' purchases of phosphate from Western Sahara," the Norwegian finance ministry said in a statement.

Banking on our lack of financial savvy

Topics: 
Corporate ethics, Financial industry, Message control or 'spin'
Rating: 
3

Jonathan Chevreau – November 12, 2011

Here we are midway through the newly designated Financial Literacy Month when skeptics on both sides of the border are questioning whether the financial industry sincerely wants informed consumers.

I have posed this question myself but not so harshly as Marketwatch. com columnist Paul Farrell did this week. He damned the whole financial literacy movement as a "big, fat Wall Street hoax."

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