WASHINGTON: The French power and transportation company Alstom will pay a record $772.3m fine and plead guilty to settle US criminal charges that it funnelled million of dollars in bribes through sham consultants to win business around the globe.
Using code names such as “Mr. Paris” and “Quiet Man,” Alstom tried to conceal tens of millions of dollars in bribes by pretending that the consultants it had hired were legitimate, the US Justice Department said yesterday.
In fact, the consultants were hired to bribe officials in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Taiwan, and the Bahamas, in a scheme that took place over about 11 years and involved paying more than $75m to secure $4bn in projects, the DOJ said.
The DOJ also said Alstom falsified its books to mask the bribes. “It was astounding in its breadth, its brazenness and its worldwide consequences,” said Deputy Attorney General James Cole at a press conference.
The Justice Department’s settlement with the company marks the largest-ever fine levied against a company for violations of foreign bribery laws — a penalty the government said is appropriate because Alstom failed to self-report the violations or cooperate with the criminal probe.
The parent company pleaded guilty to two criminal counts and admitted to wrongdoing in a federal court in Connecticut.
Alstom’s Swiss unit also pleaded guilty to criminal charges that it conspired to violate federal bribery laws, while Alstom’s US power and grid units each entered into deferred prosecution agreements and admitted to conspiring to violate bribery laws, the Justice Department said. Reuters
