AVON’S new head office in the UK
A published report of the Wall Street Journal said that Federal prosecutors have presented evidence to a grand jury against U.S. executives of cosmetics company Avon Products to determine whether those executives broke foreign bribery laws.
This stems from an internal investigation commenced by the cosmetic company in 2008, to ascertain whether any of its employees had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which prohibits US companies from paying bribes to foreign government officials.
The US authorities are studying the 2005 internal audit report of the company which shows that the company’s employees in China might have been involved in bribing officials there.
The grand jury could decide whether there is enough evidence to file criminal charges against the employees concrned. Avon had not made any comments.
