63. Peter Y. Solmssen on cleaning up the Siemens bribery scandal in his role as the general counsel

KickBack - The Global Anticorruption Podcast

We welcome Peter Y. Solmssen who serves as the Chairman of the Non-trial Resolutions Subcommittee of the International Bar Association. The interview covers his unique role in serving as the general counsel after the allegations of foreign bribery against Siemens surfaced. Peter shares his views on the Siemens case in general and weighs in on why a successful and large company like Siemens developed systematic bribery schemes in the first place. Matthew and Peter discuss the benefits and challenges of administering penalties of foreign bribery not only to companies but also to individuals. Peter describes his wishlist of changes to the FCPA and how bribery schemes increasingly span across national borders need to be combatted. For more info on the Siemens scandal: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21siemens.html To find out more about Peter and his involvement in negotiating “the first internationally coordinated settlement of multiple foreign bribery prosecutions”, check out his Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Y._Solmssen. For a fascinating read about his family’s roots in Germany check out this Die Zeit article (in German): https://www.zeit.de/2010/37/Siemens-Vorstand-Solmssen/komplettansicht In March 2017, Peter co-authored the Report “On Combating Corruption and Fostering Integrity “ to the Secretary General of the OECD: https://www.oecd.org/corruption/HLAG-Corruption-Integrity-SG-Report-March-2017.pdf Together with Prof. Tina Soreide (https://www.nhh.no/en/employees/faculty/tina-soreide/), Peter has founded and coordinated “The Recommendation 6 Network” a working group consisting academics, lawyers, corporate officers and NGOs: https://www.nhh.no/en/research-centres/corporate-compliance-and-enforcement/about/guidelines-for-non-trial-resolutions/