Last year, Robert Kelner, a leading Washington election lawyer, warned: “More than in the past, the Department of Justice seems to be trying very hard to tie campaign contributions to legislative acts by members of Congress and to draw the inference that there’s a criminal connection between the two.”

It was an alert that should have sent chills down the corporate spine. A year later, there is little sign that it registered. The Center for Political Accountability, a non-partisan group, recently surveyed the S&P 100 companies to see how they regulated their political activity. It found that none of them included comprehensive policies governing political involvement in their codes of conduct. Moreover, none ensured broad political transparency and accountability and ethical political behaviour.