Chemical-maker Huntsman Corporation said in an SEC filing last week that the DOJ and SEC won’t take enforcement action against the company for bribes paid in India by employees of a joint venture there.
In a quarterly report filed on August 1, Utah-based Huntsman said it heard from the SEC and DOJ in May.
The company completed an internal investigation in 2010 of the operations of Petro Araldite Pvt. Ltd., a majority-owned joint venture in India.
The investigation first focused on allegations of environmental offenses, Hunstman said. But it expanded to include ‘the legality under Indian law and U.S. law, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, of certain payments made by employees of the joint venture to government officials in India.’
The company said:
Records at the facility covering nine months in 2009 and early 2010 show that less than $11,000 in payments were made to officials for that period; in addition, payments in unknown amounts may have been made by individuals from the facility in previous years.
Huntsman self disclosed the payments to the SEC and DOJ in 2010 and said it would cooperate. It also fired management employees involved in the illegal payments.
The company said it has a remediation plan for the environmental offenses not already resolved.
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Research courtesy of ethiXbase, the world’s largest database of anti-corruption legislation, gift-giving regulations, investigations, and enforcement actions.
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