The New York Times has alleged that an internal Walmart investigation - revealing significant bribery at its Mexican subsidiary dating back to before 2005 - was shelved by the retail giant. Senior staff rebuked investigators for following up on the matter and covered up the findings, according to the report.
The US newspaper said Walmart’s lawyers received an email from a former executive alleging that the company’s Mexican division paid bribes to authorities in 2005. The payments were made to speed up planning permits to build stores in the country, according to the email. Mexico is now one of Walmart’s biggest markets. A paper trail (worth over $24 million in suspicious payments) was discovered by the investigators, said the newspaper. Company executives shut down the investigation and failed to notify US or Mexican law enforcement officials, said the report. If true, the conduct goes against the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the US law prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign government officials. The company has said it disclosed its probe to the DOJ and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Time reported that the company disclosed the issue after it became aware of the investigation. (25 Apr) © 2012 ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
