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US probes Alcoa over Bahrain bribery allegation
Alcoa Inc, at the focus of a criminal investigation by the US Justice Department that it bribed Bahraini officials, has pledged full cooperation.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 00:46 March 23, 2008
Manama: Alcoa Inc, at the focus of a criminal investigation by the US Justice Department that it bribed Bahraini officials, has pledged full cooperation.
"We will cooperate fully with the Justice Department and believe this will help bring this matter to a speedy conclusion," Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery on Saturday told Gulf News.
In his brief statement, Lowery said that the Justice Department "let us know that they would file a motion to intervene and stay the civil litigation filed by Alba while they conducted a review of this matter."
In a motion filed in federal court in Pittsburgh, the Justice Department asked chief US District Judge Donetta Ambrose for the right to intervene in the lawsuit filed by Aluminum Bahrain against Alcoa and stop the discovery process - sharing of documents and interviewing witnesses, "pending the outcome of an ongoing federal criminal investigation," the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
Alba, one of the world's largest smelters, in February accused Alcoa of bribing Bahraini officials between 1993 and 2007.
The "massive outrageous fraud" resulted in Alcoa allegedly being overpaid "hundreds of millions of dollars" for a raw material used to make aluminum, according to the $1 billion lawsuit. However, Alcoa said that it was not aware of any illegal activities.
Violations
"The allegations in Alba's complaint implicate facts and conduct that fall within the scope of the criminal investigation," attorneys for the Justice Department said in court papers. Alba and Alcoa said they don't oppose the government's request. The probe centres on alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits payoffs to overseas officials.
The Justice Department has expanded enforcement of the law in the past few years, targeting companies and executives in industries ranging from oil and gas services to defence.
The department has 80 pending foreign bribery probes, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Justice Department spokesman Paul Bresson declined to comment. "There is a high interest by the Justice Department in these kinds of disputes right now," said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.
- With inputs from Bloomberg
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