Jakarta Governance Workshop Highlights FCPA and FEPA Compliance Risks

Jakarta — A governance workshop jointly hosted by Moores Rowland Indonesia and U.S. law firm Steptoe in Jakarta brought together executives and specialists to discuss anti-corruption, anti-money-laundering, environmental, social and governance (ESG) and broader compliance risks for companies operating in Indonesia, according to Moores Rowland Indonesia and local media coverage.

The event, titled “Strengthening Compliance and Risk Management in Indonesia”, was held at the Dharmawangsa hotel in South Jakarta. The exact date of the workshop is not specified in the available reports, but Moores Rowland describes it as a response to uncertainty over U.S. enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the evolving global compliance environment.

For companies with operations or partners in Indonesia, including those based in Bali, the workshop was framed as professional guidance on risk management rather than the launch of new Indonesian regulations or mandatory governance codes. The organisers positioned the discussions as a way to help businesses navigate overlapping legal, contractual and reputational expectations.

Focus on compliance and risk management

Moores Rowland Indonesia reports that participants included senior figures from legal, compliance, risk, sustainability and corporate-governance functions. Speakers included Marzuki Darusman, a former Indonesian attorney general and senior adviser to Moores Rowland Indonesia, and partners from Steptoe’s Hong Kong office.

The workshop examined potential implications of a U.S. executive order that, according to the organisers, has created uncertainty around the pace of FCPA enforcement. It also highlighted the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA), which complements the FCPA by criminalising the “demand side” of foreign bribery by foreign officials.

Moores Rowland identifies several core themes discussed during the session:

• Anti-bribery and anti-corruption controls.
• Anti-money-laundering frameworks.
• ESG oversight and reporting.
• Human-rights and business-risk due diligence.
• Legal and reputational risk management.

The reports do not specify which Indonesian statutes or sectoral regulations were examined in detail, nor do they identify whether the recommendations targeted listed companies, private firms, state-owned enterprises or a particular industry.

Implications for Bali businesses and investors

In coverage of the workshop, Moores Rowland Indonesia’s chief executive James Kallman is quoted as saying that governance provides the framework for setting ESG objectives, monitoring performance and reporting results. For Bali-based companies, this emphasis translates into practical questions about whether environmental or social claims are supported by records, assigned responsibilities and regular oversight.

Businesses working with overseas clients, lenders or investors are encouraged to examine which foreign compliance regimes may apply and to obtain qualified advice rather than relying on assumptions about enforcement trends. The organisers caution that changes in U.S. enforcement priorities should not be taken as an end to anti-bribery obligations or exposure, particularly given FEPA’s entry into force.

Investors can use these themes to probe how a company identifies corruption, money-laundering, labour, human-rights and environmental risks, how complaints are handled, and whether senior management receives reliable information on unresolved issues. Such questions help distinguish governance systems that are implemented and monitored from policies that exist mainly on paper.

Guidance versus binding rules

Moores Rowland describes itself as a multidisciplinary professional-services firm providing assurance, advisory, tax, legal, risk and business-consulting services across Southeast Asia, including ESG advisory and business-and-human-rights due diligence. Steptoe is identified as a U.S. law firm advising on anti-corruption, anti-money-laundering, sanctions and data-security matters.

The Jakarta workshop’s recommendations were presented as expert guidance. The available reports do not cite any new Indonesian law or binding regulatory instrument emerging from the event. Companies are therefore advised to treat the material as professional commentary that must be aligned with applicable Indonesian legislation, sectoral rules and individual contractual obligations.

Publicly available information on U.S. law underscores that the FCPA remains in force, while FEPA, enacted in late 2023 and updated by technical amendments in 2024, adds criminal liability for foreign officials who solicit or accept bribes from specified U.S.-linked entities or individuals. Legal analysis notes that FEPA is intended to work in conjunction with the FCPA rather than replace it, closing a perceived gap by targeting the demand side of foreign bribery schemes.

This article is an analysis of publicly available reports and legal commentary, and is not legal advice.

Sources

• Moores Rowland Indonesia – Moores Rowland Leads on Corporate Governance in Indonesia
• US Department of Justice – Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit
• Transparency International U.S. – Frequently Asked Questions About the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA)
• DLA Piper – US companies and residents take note: Foreign Extortion Prevention Act goes into effect
• U.S. Congress – S.4548 Foreign Extortion Prevention Technical Corrections Act
• NOW! Bali