The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in a Tuesday press release that they had settled charges against the Oracle Corporation that it had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
According to the press release, Oracle bribed foreign officials in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and India across a period from 2016 to 2019. The resolution of these charges requires the Oracle Corporation to pay $23 million, according to the SEC.
Charles Cain, the SEC’s FCPA Unit Chief, said, “The creation of off-book slush funds inherently gives rise to the risk those funds will be used improperly, which is exactly what happened here at Oracle’s Turkey, UAE, and India subsidiaries. This matter highlights the critical need for effective internal accounting controls throughout the entirety of a company’s operations.”
These are not the first slush-fund related charges Oracle Corporation has resolved; in 2012, Oracle resolved charges for creating millions of dollars of side funds in India, which ran the risk of use for illegal purposes, according to the SEC.
