Alstom to Plead Guilty to Bribery of Foreign Officials
The French industrial giant Alstom has agreed to plead guilty and pay the largest fine ever levied by the United States for foreign bribery.
The plea will bring a $772 million penalty in a bribery investigation led by the U.S. Justice Department.
Alstom, an energy and transportation company, had been under investigation in a plot involving tens of millions of dollars in bribes paid to government officials in Indonesia and other countries to win power contracts, reports The New York Times.
“Alstom’s corruption scheme was sustained over more than a decade and across several continents,” said James Cole, deputy attorney general. “It was astounding in its breadth, its brazenness and its worldwide consequences.”