Publications
Partners
New York - French industrial giant Alstom has agreed to pay $700m to settle US corruption charges related to bribes in Indonesia and other countries, a source says.
The settlement, to be announced next week, comes as US conglomerate General Electric prepares to complete a deal to buy key Alstom assets.
The US Department of Justice has accused Alstom under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of bribing officials in Indonesia to win the $118m Tarahan energy contract in the early 2000s in Indonesia.
Alstom partnered with Japanese firm Marubeni, which in March pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the American act and was sentenced to pay an $88m US criminal fine.
Besides Marubeni, three former Alstom officials have pleaded guilty to violations in the case, while a fourth awaits trial.
Investigation underway
The settlement was hinted at earlier this month by US assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell, who said earlier that executives from Marubeni and Alstom "engaged in a multi-year scheme to pay millions of dollars to a high ranking member of the Indonesian parliament and other officials" in exchange for the Tarahan contract.
"We are actively continuing to investigate and anticipate additional law enforcement actions in the near future," according to a transcript of Caldwell's remarks at an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development event in Paris to launch a report on bribery.
US officials have said emails show the conspirators hired two "consultants" in the Tarahan scandal, employing a second to bribe Indonesian officials because they were doubtful the first would succeed in winning Tarahan.
Criminal proceedings
Caldwell said the US was working with officials in Switzerland, Britain and the World Bank on Alstom corruption matters.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office said in July that it had launched criminal proceedings against an Alstom unit over alleged corruption in India, Poland and Tunisia.
In February, officials in Brazil indicted 11 people in a case in which Alstom is alleged to have paid $10m in bribes to obtain contracts with the Sao Paulo metro.
In 2011, a subsidiary of Alstom was fined $42.7m by Swiss authorities to address bribery charges in Latvia, Tunisia and Malaysia.
