A New Jersey-based construction management company has agreed to pay a $17.1 million criminal penalty to resolve charges that it bribed foreign officials in India and three other countries after admitting to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation press note July 17, Louis Berger International Inc. paid the bribe to secure government construction management contracts to India as well as Indonesia, Vietnam and . Two of the company’s former executives also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and FCPA charges in connection with the scheme.
Prosecutors as well as well as Newark’s FBI Division said that LBI entered into a deferred prosecution agreement July 17 and admitted its criminal conduct, including its conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. LBI has agreed to pay a $17.1 million criminal penalty to implement rigorous internal controls, to continue to cooperate fully with the department and to retain a compliance monitor for at least three years.
According to court documents, from 1998 through 2010, the company and its employees orchestrated $3.9 million in bribe payments to foreign officials in various countries in order to secure government contracts. To conceal the payments, the co-conspirators made payments under the guise of “commitment fees,” “counterpart per diems,” and other payments to third-party vendors.
In reality, the payments were intended to fund bribes to foreign officials who had awarded contracts to LBI or who supervised LBI’s work on contracts, the press note said.
Among other factors, in entering into a DPA in this case, the government considered LBI’s self-reporting of the misconduct; the company’s cooperation, including voluntarily making both United States and foreign employees available for interviews, and collecting, analyzing and organizing evidence and information for federal investigators and the company’s extensive remediation, including terminating the officers and employees responsible for the corrupt payments. The government also considered the company’s demonstrated commitment to improving its compliance program and internal controls.
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