Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Aluminium firm Alcoa to pay $384m after pleading guilty to Bahrain bribery
Source: The Guardian
Aluminium firm Alcoa to pay $384m after pleading guilty to Bahrain bribery
Simon Bowers
The Guardian, Thursday 9 January 2014 19.44 GMT
Alcoa, the multinational aluminium group, has pleaded guilty in the US to a bribery offence relating to the payment of kickbacks to Bahraini officials through an unnamed London-based middleman with close ties to Bahrain's royal family.
The Alcoa admission comes less than six weeks after the surprise collapse of the UK trial of Victor Dahdaleh, a London-based consultant who had been under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for four years in relation to the bribery scandal.
Alcoa has agreed to pay $223m (£135m) to the US department of justice (DoJ) in criminal fines and forfeiture following admissions that bribes were paid through a London businessman to Bahraini officials including senior members of the royal family. Lawyers for Dahdaleh declined to comment on Alcoa's plea.
Alcoa also reached a parallel civil settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreeing to pay $161m in disgorgement, bringing the total cost to the New York-listed group to $384m. Alcoa, which has already paid $85m to Bahraini state-run aluminium firm Alba to settle another civil claim, said it "welcomes the resolution of this legacy legal matter".
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Simon Bowers
The Guardian, Thursday 9 January 2014 19.44 GMT
Alcoa, the multinational aluminium group, has pleaded guilty in the US to a bribery offence relating to the payment of kickbacks to Bahraini officials through an unnamed London-based middleman with close ties to Bahrain's royal family.
The Alcoa admission comes less than six weeks after the surprise collapse of the UK trial of Victor Dahdaleh, a London-based consultant who had been under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for four years in relation to the bribery scandal.
Alcoa has agreed to pay $223m (£135m) to the US department of justice (DoJ) in criminal fines and forfeiture following admissions that bribes were paid through a London businessman to Bahraini officials including senior members of the royal family. Lawyers for Dahdaleh declined to comment on Alcoa's plea.
Alcoa also reached a parallel civil settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreeing to pay $161m in disgorgement, bringing the total cost to the New York-listed group to $384m. Alcoa, which has already paid $85m to Bahraini state-run aluminium firm Alba to settle another civil claim, said it "welcomes the resolution of this legacy legal matter".
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/09/alcoa-bahrain-bribery-us-kickbacks