Swiss logistics giant Panalpina said yesterday it has reserved about $110 million for an expected FCPA settlement with the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission and a seperate antitrust resolution. It said the settlements should happen “in the near future.”
The corruption investigation dates back to at least early February 2007. The DOJ noted then in connection with Vetco’s FCPA settlement that bribes in Nigeria “were paid through a major international freight forwarding and customs clearance company to employees of the Nigerian Customs Service . . .”
In the following months, about a dozen leading oil and gas-related companies received letters from the DOJ and SEC asking them to “detail their relationship with Panalpina . . . .” Shell, Schlumberger, Tidewater, Nabors Industries, Transocean, GlobalSantaFe Corp., Noble Corp. and Pride International were among those involved.
In July 2007, Panalpina disclosed that some customers of its U.S. subsidiary had “been requested by U.S. authorities to produce documents related to the provision of its services to Nigeria for a specific customer and its contractor. This request was triggered by the plea agreement of such customer with the U.S. authorities for allegedly making improper payments to Nigerian officials to secure preferential customs treatment. . . . U.S. authorities have extended the scope of their review to Panalpina’s documents related to services into Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia for a limited number of customers.”
In August 2008, Panalpina said compliance concerns had forced it to withdraw completely from the Nigerian domestic market. It had already suspended domestic logistics and freight forwarding services there in September 2007 for all oil and gas-related customers. It said then it was cooperating with the DOJ and SEC in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation.
Yesterday’s full announcement, available here, said:
In view of the advanced stage of the settlement negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Panalpina has decided to reserve CHF 120 million, an amount anticipated to cover fines, other penalties and legal expenses relating to the settlement of both the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the U.S. antitrust investigations. This amount will be reflected accordingly in the company’s 2010 half year financial statements. The finalization of the settlement with the U.S. authorities is expected in the near future. The above reserve does not cover other ongoing, non-U.S. antitrust investigations against the international freight forwarding industry in particular the proceeding launched by the European Commission as Panalpina is unable to predict the amount of any potential fine with certainty.
The company operates through 500 branches in 80 countries with about 13,500 employees worldwide. It serves the rest of the world through local partners.
Panalpina Welttransport (Holding) AG trades on various European exchanges, and in the U.S. OTC pink sheets under the symbol PLWTF.PK.
Special thanks to Marc Alain Bohn for help with this post.
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