Canadian Court Clarifies Threshold for Foreign Bribery Convictions

Sabrina A. Bandali comments in Global Investigations Review on how a recent acquittal of a Canadian national accused of bribing a foreign public official has confirmed the minimum standard for convictions under the country’s anti-bribery legislation.

In January the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found Damodar Arapakota, the former CEO of Toronto-based electronics company Imex Systems, not guilty of foreign bribery under Canada’s Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act.

Sabrina says that the judge’s outlining of the “quid pro quo” test in her reasonings has provided practitioners with helpful guidance about nuances within Canada’s foreign bribery legislation that previous judgments hadn’t yet considered. She added that the judge’s detailed analysis of the law validates the approach that practitioners already take in advising their clients on foreign bribery-related matters.