February 13, 2012
Dear SEC Commissioners,
Please do not give in to industry pressures on Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act (the Cardin-Lugar Amendment) - and make sure that ALL companies are covered, every country and every project gets reported, and loopholes that would allow large sums of money to go unreported are closed.
My Comment:
Having been born on the other side of the Iron Curtain, I am no stranger to corruption. One thing corrupt politicians and businessmen tend to have in common is that they have the means to act invisibly, or at least out of sight of the general public. When a businessman tries to stay out of the aforementioned sight, there is clearly a reason for it. Usually, it means they have something to hide. If the aforementioned something did not involve corruption, the only legitimate reason to try to hide it would be to protect trade secrets; however, quite a large amount of that which they're trying to hide does not fit into this category, and the rest of it can be adequately protected via legitimate means. This leaves just one plausible reason as to what they would want to hide. No corrupt businessman has ever straightened himself out without external pressure, usually from the public. Without transparency, the corrupt businessmen will contentedly remain corrupt. Believe me, we do not need more of that.
Branko Kojic