Alstom S.A., a French power and transportation company, was sentenced today to pay a $772,290,000 fine to resolve criminal charges related to a corruption scheme that involved over $75 million in hidden bribes paid to governments worldwide. The company’s subsidiaries were also charged as follows:
- Alstom Network Schweiz AG formerly known as Alstom Prom AG (Alstom Prom), the company’s Swiss subsidiary pled guilty to conspiring to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA.
- Alstom Power Inc. and Alstom Grid Inc., formerly T&D Inc., the two US subsidiaries have entered into deferred prosecution agreements after admitting they both conspired to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA.
All of the Alstom companies, through various executives and employees paid bribes to government officials in Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Bahamas and Taiwan. The companies worked together to falsify books and records in connection with power, grid and transportation projects for state-owned entities around the world. Alstom paid more than $75 million to secure more than $4 billion in projects around the world, with a company profit of around $300 million.
Alstom attempted to conceal the bribery scheme by retaining consultants who provided consulting services on behalf of the companies, but who actually served as conduits for corrupt payments to the government officials. This sentence is the largest criminal fine ever imposed in FCPA history and reflects the following:
- Failure to voluntarily disclose the misconduct
- Previous corruption problems
- Refusal to fully cooperate with the department’s investigation for several years
- Breadth of misconduct
- Lack of an effective compliance and ethics program at the time of the conduct
To date, five Alstom corporate executives have been charged for alleged corrupt conduct.
More details: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/alstom-sentenced-pay-772-million-criminal-fine-resolve-foreign-bribery-charges
