ABSTRACT
Many business persons consider political contributions and foreign payments more a form of extortion than bribery. Many illegal campaign contributions have involved extensive deception, including false bookkeeping entries, mislabeling of accounts, and maintaining phony subsidiaries. As a payoff scheme, the use of sales agents results in paying unusually large commissions, part of which are turned over to third parties, who allegedly aid the company in securing the contracts. Bribes from multinationals are given to a variety of foreign recipients, as each may be important in accomplishing corporate objectives in a given situation. In 1976 two statistical studies of trading in stocks of 74 and 75 companies, respectively, revealed only a slight indication of negative market reaction following disclosures of illegal activities by the companies. In conclusion, illegal corporate political contributions, domestic commercial bribery, and foreign payoffs are all practiced for the purpose of influencing corporate objectives.
