Smartmatic Employees (And Others) Criminally Charged In Connection With Bribery Schemes In The Philippines
The DOJ recently announced that a “federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment … charging three executives of an election voting machine and service provider company and a former Chairman of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) of the Republic of the Philippines for their roles in an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 Philippine elections. […] These bribes were allegedly paid to obtain and retain business related to providing voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippine elections and to secure payments on the contracts, including the release of value added tax payments.”
Although not mentioned in the indictment, the company at issue is Smartmatic (and related entities).
Individual Pleads Guilty To A Bribery Scheme Involving Nepal Airlines
Last month, Julian Aires (an individual associated with a joint venture partner of AAR Corp. – a U.S. based aviation services company) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions in connection with business dealings with South Africa Airways (SAA) as well as a contract involving Swissport and SAA. (See here for the prior post).
It was noted that the enforcement action was likely the first of several related enforcement actions to come as AAR’s recent annual report disclosed FCPA scrutiny in South Africa as well as Nepal.
Sure enough.
Recently, Deepak Sharma (pictured) (a United Kingdom citizen and resident) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions in connection with a bribery scheme involving Nepal Airlines Corporation (“NAC”), an alleged instrumentality of the Nepali government.
Individual Pleads Guilty To FCPA Charge In Connection With Bribery Scheme Involving South African Airways
In 2016, AAR Corp. (a U.S. based aviation services company) announced that it had teamed with a joint venture partner – JM Aviation South Africa (Pty) Ltd. – to secure a five year contract to provide inventory management and repair services to South Africa Airways Technical (SAAT) Ltd. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of South African Airways – SAA).
Recently, the DOJ charged Julian Aires (a U.S. citizen who resided in San Diego and associated with JM Aviation South Africa) with conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions in connection with an SAAT contract as well as another contract involving Swissport (an airport ground services and air cargo handling company) and SAA.
According to the court docket, Aires has pleaded guilty.
Next Up … Trafigura
First it was Sargeant Marine in 2020 (see here for the prior post).
Then it was Vitol in 2020 (see here for the prior post).
Then it was Glencore in 2022 (see here for the prior post).
Then it was Freepoint Commodities in 2023 (see here for the prior post).
Then it was Gunvor in 2024 (see here for the prior post).
Next up in the list of commodities trading (or related) companies to resolve an FCPA enforcement action is Trafigura (a company which has been under FCPA and related scrutiny for years). After accounting for various credits for related foreign law enforcement actions, the net FCPA settlement amount is approximately $100.2 million (a criminal fine amount of $53.66 million and a forfeiture amount of $46.51 million).
DOJ Charges Another Former Stericycle Executive
In mid-2022, Stericycle (an Illinois based medical waste disposal company) resolved a net $59 million parallel DOJ and SEC Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action (see here and here for prior posts).
In the words of the DOJ: “From in or about and between at least 2011 and 2016, Stericycle, through certain of its employees and agents, knowingly and willfully conspired and agreed with others to corruptly offer and pay approximately $10.5 million in bribes to, and for the benefit of, foreign officials in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina in order to obtain and retain business and other advantages for and on behalf of Stericycle. Stericycle earned approximately $21.5 million in profits from the corrupt scheme and through its corruptly obtained and retained government contracts.”