A former senior executive of a subsidiary of Alstom SA, the French power and transportation company, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to violate the FCPA.
William Pomponi, a former vice president of regional sales at Alstom Power Inc., the Connecticut-based power subsidiary of Alstom, entered his plea in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut.
A criminal information charged him with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the awarding of the Tarahan power project in Indonesia.
Three other defendants have pleaded guilty in the case.
Frederic Pierucci, the vice president of global boiler sales at Alstom, pleaded guilty in 2013 to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of violating the FCPA.
David Rothschild, a former vice president of regional sales at Alstom Power Inc., pleaded guilty in 2012 to conspiring to violate the FCPA.
Marubeni Corporation, Alstom’s consortium partner on the Tarahan project, pleaded guilty in March this year to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and seven counts of violating the FCPA. The Japanese trading company paid a criminal fine of $88 million.
FCPA and money laundering charges are pending against Lawrence Hoskins, the former senior vice president for the Asia region for Alstom. His trial is scheduled to start on June 2, 2015.
“Three Alstom corporate executives and Marubeni, a major Japanese corporation, have now pleaded guilty to a seven-year scheme to pay bribes to Indonesian officials to secure a $118 million power contract,” according to Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell.
The DOJ said the defendants and others bribed a member of the Indonesia parliament and officials at Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), the state-owned electricity company.
The defendants hired two consultants who were used to pay the bribes, the DOJ said.
Last month, the UK attorney general reportedly gave the Serious Fraud Office permission to prosecute Alstom and former employees for alleged overseas bribery.
In 2010, the SFO? arrested three Alstom UK executives. Police raided Alstom offices and residential addresses in London and six other locations.
In 2008, Swiss police arrested a former manager of Alstom and searched for evidence as part of a corruption and money-laundering investigation. Offices near Zurich and in Baden were raided, along with homes in several cantons.
Alstom provides equipment and services for power generation and high-speed rail transport. It operates in more than 70 countries with 93,000 employees.
Its ADRs trade in the U.S. pink sheets under the symbol ALSMY.PK.
The French government last month approved a plan by GE to buy most of Alstom.
The DOJ’s July 17, 2014 release is here.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
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