News has hit that HP is now subject of an SEC investigation over allegations that they’ve paid bribes to win business in Russia.

From the WaPo post:

HP said Thursday that the SEC had contacted the company and that it would cooperate with authorities.

The company said earlier this week that German and Russian officials were conducting an investigation into allegedly improper conduct from seven years ago, mainly involving former employees. The company said it is also undertaking an internal probe.

Federal probes of potential instances of foreign bribery — which are illegal under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — have been intensifying in recent years. The SEC and Justice Department have pursued several major cases targeting companies for attempting to bribe foreign government officials to gain business.

This comes on the tails of a German investigation on the same allegations (which, of course, comes on the tails of a large number of European and EU investigations on US tech companies).

In the US, when a big contract is in play for anything, including print cartridges, it’s not atypical that a sales rep will send over some sports tickets, buy a round of golf or even pay for a junket somehow. It’s how business is done, and greasing the wheels always speeds up a sale.

In Russia, setting up shell companies for bribes is how business is done.  All of Europe, the EU and Germany know this, and HP’s failing was allowing there to be loose lips.  The red flag that went up in the case of this bribe wasn’t “Ooh, HP’s engaging in unsavory business practices, so let’s stop them.” Instead, it was “Hey, HP’s doing pretty well these days.  If that advertising case against Google doesn’t bring new Euros into the continent’s economy, let’s build a case against HP so we can fine them, instead.”

Does the term and act of the bribe cause American sensibilities to recoil? Almost certainly.  If you want to do large volume business in Russia, it’s as necessary as a round of golf in the US, simple as that.