The FCPA, With All The Fixins . . .

U.S. v. Kozeny. Bloomberg's David Glovin continues his great coverage of Frederic Bourke's prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. His latest story says the government's witnesses will include a former U.S. Defense Department analyst, Christine Rastas, who worked for an investment bank run by co-defendant Victor Kozeny, and John Pulley, an ex-agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration who was Kozeny's security chief. Testifying with immunity, Rastas and Pulley are among at least "six people [who] have now said they were aware of wrongdoing in the deal" to privatize Azerbaijan's state oil company, reports Glovin.

Blasts from the past. A story yesterday by Lynne Marek of The National Law Journal (carried in law.com here) mentions the potential resolution of a couple of FCPA investigations that have been pending for years -- Halliburton (from 2003) and DaimlerChrysler (from 2004). "Halliburton," the story says, "disclosed in 2003 that regulators were probing $2.4 million in payments by one of its subsidiaries for favorable tax treatment in Nigeria. The DaimlerChrysler probe was triggered when a former employee alleged in a now-settled 2004 whistleblower lawsuit that the company had secret bank accounts for bribing foreign officials."

No telephones, please. We're Bulgarian. About our post yesterday, Thomas in Tokyo believes the cell phone ban is meant to prevent the store's disarmed patrons from calling for help. Others have speculated it's somehow related to electronic surveillance or, as one imaginative reader put it, to keep detonating devices off the premises. We're still scratching our head.

Real heroes. A special salute to the men and women in uniform everywhere who serve their countries and communities, and to their loved ones.

We're thankful for . . . These words spoken by Robert F. Kennedy in March 1968: Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

Happy Thanksgiving.

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