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Business Corporate crime Give a little whistle
商業 公司犯罪 揭發
The SEC offers a huge carrot to encourage whistle-blowers
美國證券交易委員會高額懸賞鼓勵舉報人
"TOO many people remain silent in the face of fraud," says Mary Schapiro, the chairman of America's Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). On May 25th she announced new rules to encourage corporate whistle-blowing. Inducements will include cash: 10-30% of fines of over $1m that result from tip-offs. The US Chamber of Commerce, a business lobby, calls it a "bounty programme" that will reward "amateur sleuths in search of a big payday". It is threatening legal action to block it.
"太多人在面對欺詐行為時選擇了沉默。"美國證券交易委員會（SEC）主席Mary Schapiro感嘆道。5月25日，她公布了鼓勵舉報公司犯罪的新規定。舉報的獎勵將會包含現金：如果舉報產生了100萬美元以上的罰款，那么舉報人可獲得罰款金額的10-30%。企業游說組織美國商會將其稱作"賞金計劃"，獎勵那些盼著一夜暴富的業余偵探。其威脅性會導致有人采取法律行動來阻止這一計劃。
The new rules were required by the Dodd-Frank act, Congress's response to the financial crisis, which was passed last year. They follow an earlier effort to encourage employees to speak up. After Enron, an energy firm, collapsed in a flurry of fraud, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley act in 2002 which, among other things, protected whistle-blowers from retaliation.
國會為應對金融危機在去年通過了多德佛蘭克金融改革法案（Dodd-Frank act），這些新規定是應該法案的要求制定的。同時也延續了早就開始的鼓勵公司員工站出來舉報的做法。在能源公司安然（Enron）在連串的欺詐案件中轟然倒下之后，國會采取的善后措施中就包括通過了薩班-奧克利法案（Sarbanes-Oxley act）保護舉報人免遭報復。
Employees have never found it easy to squeal on employers. Perhaps the most celebrated of corporate whistle-blowers, Sherron Watkins, a former executive at Enron, never went public with her prediction that the company might be brought down by fraud. She reported her concerns internally, and was ignored.
員工舉報老板從來就不是件容易事。最著名的舉報人，安然公司前高官Sherron Watkins，可能從沒有將她對于公司會因詐騙倒閉的預測公布于眾。她只是在公司內部提出了她的擔憂，但是沒有人理睬。
When the SEC released draft rules in November, businesses fretted that the financial rewards would prompt insiders to go straight to the commission, bypassing their firms' internal procedures—especially since that would reduce the risk of being victimised by the boss or branded a "disgruntled employee". The new rules try to correct this, for example by allowing a reward to be paid in some circumstances to whistle-blowers who only grumble internally.
當證券交易委員會在去年11月公布規定的草案時，公司擔心金錢獎勵會促使內部知情人越過內部程序直接向委員會舉報，因為這樣會降低被老板陷害或者被貼上"不滿員工"標簽的風險。新出臺的規定試圖改變這一狀況，比如規定在一些情況下可以獎勵只在內部舉報沒有外傳的員工。
The chance of making a fortune may encourage speculative whistle-blowing in the hope of winning the lottery. Ms Schapiro's new Office of the Whistleblower may be deluged with useless tips. But even that might be better than the status quo.
靠舉報發財的機會也許會刺激一心想發財的投機式舉報。Schapiro女士的新舉報官可能會被無效的線索淹沒。但是即使是這樣也好過現狀。
