Former Alstom, Marubeni execs face FCPA charges in bribery scheme

Junji Kusunoki, former deputy general manager of Marubeni Corporation’s overseas power project department; Reza Moenaf, former president of Alstom Indonesia; and Eko Sulianto, former director of sales for Alstom Indonesia, were charged with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations and conspiracy to commit money laundering. They were first indicted in February 2015.

According to the Justice Department, Kusunoki, Moenaf, and Sulianto engaged in a conspiracy to pay bribes to officials in Indonesia—including a high-ranking member of the Indonesian Parliament and the president of Perusahaan Listrik Negara, the state-owned and state-controlled electricity company in Indonesia—in exchange for assistance in securing a $118 million contract, known as the Tarahan Project, for Alstom Power and its consortium partner, Marubeni, to provide power-related services for Indonesian citizens.

According to the indictment, Kusunoki’s responsibilities at Marubeni included “obtaining contracts with new customers and retaining contracts with existing customers on behalf and for the benefit of Marubeni in various countries, including obtaining and retaining the contract for the Tarahan Project and Muara Tawar Projects in Indonesia.”

Moenaf and Sulianto had similar responsibilities at Alstom Indonesia, assisting other Alstom entities’ efforts to obtain contracts with new customers and to retain contracts with existing customers in Indonesia, including assisting Alstom Power U.S. to obtain projects in Indonesia. Under the FCPA, this made Moenaf and Sulianto agents of “domestic concern.”

According to the indictment, Moenaf, Kusunoki, and Sulianto knew that a portion of the payments to the consultants they retained for their respective companies was intended for Indonesian officials in exchange for their influence and assistance in awarding the Tarahan Project and Muara Tawar contracts to Alstom, its subsidiaries, and Marubeni.

The indictment lists other individuals, including three former Alstom executives, who have already pleaded guilty for their role in the bribery scheme. In November 2019, a federal jury found guilty Lawrence Hoskins, a U.K. citizen employed by the U.K.-based subsidiary of Alstom. Hoskins was assigned to work with a French subsidiary of Alstom on a project in Indonesia. He was first indicted in 2013.

In December 2014, Alstom pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $772 million criminal penalty for FCPA violations to resolve charges that it paid tens of millions of dollars in bribes to government officials in several countries in exchange for energy contracts, including in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Bahamas, and Taiwan. Following that settlement, General Electric acquired Alstom’s power business in 2015. In May 2014, Marubeni agreed to pay a criminal fine of $88 million to resolve charges of FCPA violations for its role in the scheme.