By James Gatta and Derek Cohen ( August 1, 2018, 2:17 PM EDT) -- In its continuing efforts to encourage companies to self-report Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, the U.S. Department of Justice announced last week that it intends to apply the principles of its FCPA corporate enforcement policy to successor companies that uncover wrongdoing in connection with mergers and acquisitions. Accordingly, successor companies that voluntarily disclose such wrongdoing to the DOJ, cooperate with a government investigation of the conduct, and enact effective remedial measures will be positioned to benefit from the principles of the policy, including being presumed eligible for a declination of prosecution. The announcement made clear that the FCPA corporate enforcement policy will apply to companies that uncover corrupt conduct through due diligence in advance of an acquisition as well as to companies that learn of such conduct subsequent to an acquisition. This extension of the policy to mergers and acquisitions was announced on July 25, 2018, by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Matthew S. Miner of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, at the American Conference Institute's Eighth Global Forum on Anti-Corruption Compliance in High-Risk Markets, held in Washington, D.C....