Archive

December 4, 2014

Asem Elgawhary, former Principal Vice President of Bechtel Corporation and General Manager of the Power Generation Engineering and Services Company (PGESCo), pleaded guilty in connection with a $5.2M kickback scheme intended to manipulate the competitive bidding process for state-run power contracts in Egypt. In his plea agreement, Elgawhary admitted that, from 1996 to 2011, he was assigned by Bechtel to be the general manager at PGESCo, a joint venture between Bechtel and Egypt’s state-owned and state-controlled electricity company (EEHC) and that he accepted a total of $5.2M from three power companies, which they paid to secure a competitive and unfair advantage in the bidding process. DOJ

November 3, 2014

California-based medical diagnostics and life sciences manufacturing company Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. agreed to pay $55M million to settle allegations it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by falsifying its books and records and failing to implement adequate internal controls in connection with sales it made in Russia and for making illegal bribes in connection with sales it made in Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. The company will pay $14.35M to the DOJ and $40.7M to the SEC.Whistleblower Insider

September 11, 2014

Hewlett-Packard subsidiary Hewlett-Packard Russia pleaded guilty to felony violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for bribing Russian government officials to secure a large technology contract with the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. According to the plea agreement, HP Russia executives created a multimillion dollar secret slush fund, at least part of which was used to bribe Russian government officials who awarded the company a contract valued at more than 35 million euros. HP Russia will pay a $58.8 million fine. DOJ

July 24, 2014

Bernd Kowalewski, the former President and CEO of BizJet International, pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for bribing officials in Mexico and Panama to get contracts for aircraft services. BizJet is a U.S. subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik that provides aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services. He is the third and most senior Bizjet executive to plead guilty to these violations. DOJ

July 17, 2014

William Pomponi, a former vice president of regional sales at Alstom Power Inc., the Connecticut-based power subsidiary of Alstom SA, the French power and transportation company, pleaded guilty for his participation in a scheme to pay bribes to foreign government officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Three Alstom corporate executives and Marubeni, a major Japanese corporation, have now pleaded guilty to a seven-year scheme to pay bribes to Indonesian officials to secure the $118M Tarahan power contract there. DOJ

May 15, 2014

Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese trading company involved in products and services in a broad range of sectors around the world, including power generation, was sentenced today for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to high-ranking government officials in Indonesia to secure a lucrative power project. The company signed a plea agreement admitting its criminal conduct and agreeing to pay an $88M fine. DOJ

April 9, 2014

Hewlett-Packard Russia agreed to plead guilty to felony violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for bribing Russian government officials to secure a large technology contract with the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. In addition, the US entered into criminal resolutions with HP subsidiaries in Poland and Mexico relating to FCPA violations for contracts with Poland’s national police agency and Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company. In total, the three HP entities will pay more than $108M in criminal and regulatory penalties. DOJ

March 19, 2014

Marubeni Corp., a Japanese trading company involved in power generation, pled guilty to violating the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and agreed to pay a criminal fine of $88M for its participation in a scheme to bribe high-ranking government officials in Indonesia to secure a lucrative power project. DOJ