After Its Subsidiary Bribed Mexican Officials, Wal-Mart Lobbies To Weaken Anti-Bribery Laws

[marmar]

After Its Subsidiary Bribed Mexican Officials, Wal-Mart Lobbies To Weaken Anti-Bribery Laws


This story was originally published at Republic Reports.


A blockbuster New York Times story published this weekend details how the Mexican subsidiary of retail giant Wal-Mart paid $24 million in bribes to Mexican officials — and subsequently top Wal-Mart officials allegedly decided to cover up these offenses.

The details of Wal-Mart’s complicity in bribery are shocking, but there is one important element that the Times did not report.

While Wal-Mart’s largest subsidiary spent millions of dollars systematically bribing Mexican officials, the company back home has been working, through big business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to weaken the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which renders it illegal for corporations to bribe officials in foreign countries.

The Chamber of Commerce made a major push in late 2010 to severely curtail the power of the FCPA. One of the revisions the business lobby wanted was to limit a parent company’s civil liability for the acts of a subsidiary. This lobbying also came shortly after it was revealed that the Chamber had been getting foreign funding from overseas corporations. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/907965/after_its_subsidiary_bribed_mexican_officials%2C_wal-mart_lobbies_to_weaken_anti-bribery_laws/

[coalition_unwilling]

1. Two of the executives involved in the bribery inside Mexico have since been

promoted to higher positions within the WalMart food chain. If I were a WalMart shareholder, I'd be seriously pissed off and, depending on my stake, contemplating a civil lawsuit against WalMart's Board of Directors and management.