Wal-Mart
13 June 2012. Wal-Mart lawyers, retained to review Wal-Mart anti-corruption compliance globally, have identified India, China, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico as the most corrupt countries. Wal-Mart claimed that it revised its program to include measures to curb increasing corruption claims following the review.
Wal-Mart executives bribed Mexican officials to obtain licences to open new stores there. Even after evidence of such bribe came to light, Wal-Mart closed its investigations without informing the authorities. In April Wal-Mart faced allegation that it hid its corruption involvement in Mexico
Two congressmen, Elijah Cummings and Henry Waxman both Democratic Representatives, are investigating the bribery charges levelled against the company.
Congressmen wrote to Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke asking him to allow access to documents about the lawyers’ review and recommendations, and to those regarding the potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, The congressmen said Wal-Mart hasn’t allowed them to question any of its employees and that the company’s actions “significantly inhibit our ability” to investigate the allegations..
Wal-Mart is currently facing at least a dozen “derivative” lawsuits, seeking to alter the way the company is run and to recover any financial damages that the company faces for violating laws.
There have been no reports of Wal-Mart’s response to the letter, but it has maintained that it is “committed to a full and independent investigation” and that “it would be inappropriate for us or others to come to conclusions before the investigation is complete,” Reuters reported.
