ABB avoids DOJ monitor, to pay $327M over South African bribes
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2022-12-05T16:19:00
Swiss technology company ABB agreed to pay $327 million in penalties to settle coordinated charges it paid bribes to win South African energy contracts.
The settlement, announced late Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice, saw ABB admit to a scheme from 2014-17 to pay bribes to a South African energy official. The scheme involved ABB making payments to subcontractors connected to the high-ranking official at the energy company Eskom Holdings. In return, ABB received “improper advantages” in its efforts to obtain work with Eskom, including access to confidential and internal Eskom documents.
ABB and Eskom then conducted “sham negotiations” that resulted in inflated contracts being awarded to ABB.
Related articles
-
News BriefInterpol to launch AML pilot program in Africa by 2025
The International Police Organization will launch a pilot anti-money laundering initiative in Africa that will trace and recover funds stolen by corrupt officials and criminals.
-
PremiumLessons from Albemarle, ABB: How data-driven compliance can help your firm
Andrew McBride, chief risk officer of Albemarle Corp., and Tapan Debnath, head of integrity, regulatory affairs and data privacy at ABB, discussed how and why their respective organizations use data analytics to conduct business as part of a recent webcast.
-
News BriefSAP to pay $220M in FCPA settlements
German-based software company SAP agreed to pay more than $220 million as part of resolutions with authorities in the United States and South Africa regarding alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
More from Regulatory Enforcement
-
ArticleFATF focus on criminal asset recovery points to a more investigatory role for compliance
Global organised crime is booming, and only 1 to 2 percent of the $4 trillion black economy is intercepted, according to figures from the Financial Action Task Force. Its new guidance suggests that countries should focus on rapid investigations, collaborative intelligence gathering, and confiscating the proceeds of criminal activity.
-
ArticleCrypto network Paxful will plead guilty to BSA violations, pay $4M fine, shut down
Paxful, a crypto peer-to-peer network, will plead guilty to multiple federal criminal charges related to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), among others. The plea agreement follows years of scrutiny from regulators over anit-money laundering (AML) compliance failures.
-
ArticleFormer Credit Suisse compliance officer charged with money laundering
A compliance officer is facing charges for laundering $7 million in a complex legal case in Switzerland. Swiss prosecutors have charged Credit Suisse, and one of its former employees, with failing to maintain adequate controls.