A settlement has been reached to resolve Foreign Bribery Schemes in Asia and Africa against General Cable Corporation.
The allegations arose from a lawsuit that claimed General Cable Corporation engaged in improper payments to government officials in Angola, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Thailand to corruptly gain business in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
“General Cable paid bribes to officials in multiple countries in a scheme that involved a high-level executive of the company and resulted in profits of more than $50 million worldwide,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “But General Cable also voluntarily self-disclosed this misconduct to the government, fully cooperated and remediated. This resolution demonstrates the very real upside to coming in and cooperating with federal prosecutors and investigators. It also reflects our ongoing commitment to transparency.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, General Cable Corporation acknowledged, some parent-level and subsidiary-level employees, including executives, knew that some of its foreign subsidiaries used third-party agents and distributors to make corrupt payments to foreign officials in order to obtain and retain business. In one case the foreign subsidiary made corrupt payments directly to foreign officials. The corrupt conduct began in 2002. In 2011, when employees from a General Cable subsidiary expressed concerns to regional and parent-level executives that commission payments were being used for improper purposes, including potentially bribery, General Cable nevertheless failed to implement and maintain a system of internal accounting controls designed to detect and prevent such corruption and otherwise illegal payments.
Between 2002 and 2013, General Cable subsidiaries paid approximately $13 million to third-party agents and distributors, a portion of which was used to make unlawful payments to obtain business, ultimately netting the company approximately $51 million in profits.
General Cable entered into a non-prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $20,469,694.80 to resolve the matter.
Source: https://www.justice.gov/
