VimpelCom to Pay $795 Million to Settle U.S. Bribery Claims

Bribe - moneyOne the world’s largest telecommunications companies and its subsidiary agreed to fines and forfeitures with U.S. and Dutch authorities totaling more than $800 million to resolve a long-running bribery scheme involving a government official in Uzbekistan, USA Today reports.

The report says Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said VimpelCom, headquartered in Amsterdam, and its Uzbek-based subsidiary Unitel LLC, made “bribery a foundation of their business model” throughout Uzbekistan.

“More than $114 million in bribes, according to federal prosecutors, was funneled to the Uzbek official during a six-year period by the firm, which issues publicly-traded securities in the U.S. The companies concealed the bribes through various payments to a shell company that some VimpelCom and Unitel officials knew was owned by the recipient of the bribe payments,” the newspaper reports.

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Richard Bistrong’s From Behind the Bribe: The Sharp End of Compliance

Corporate Compliance Insights presents a short film about Richard Bistrong’s journey through the dark side of international business, “getting caught” and what that might mean for today’s compliance challenges.

Richard Bistrong is a former sales and marketing executive in the law enforcement and defense sector for more than 15 years, most of which was as VP for international sales. He pleaded guilty and sentenced to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, including books and records as well as exporting goods without authorization.

Watch the film.