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Tag: bribery

  • Deutsche Bank Strikes a Deal on Bribery

    Deutsche Bank Strikes a Deal on Bribery

    Deutsche Bank will look to avoid U.S. charges of bribery and manipulation of precious metals markets by making a payment totaling nearly $125 million.

    Almost the entire payout relates to charges against the German lender over its dealings in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, China, and Italy, according to court papers, with a criminal fine making up two-thirds of the total sum, according to a court hearing in New York.

    Prosecutors claim that Deutsche Bank violated the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) which prohibits firms with U.S. operations from paying bribes elsewhere.

    Deutsche Bank engaged in a criminal scheme to conceal payments to so-called consultants worldwide who served as conduits for bribes to foreign officials and others to win and retain lucrative business projects said a statement from Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme in Brooklyn.

    According to prosecutors, Deutsche Bank allegedly disguised bribes as «referral fees» paid to «decision-makers» in Saudi Arabia and millions of dollars in consultancy fees to an intermediary for an Abu Dhabi official.

    The bank was also accused of making similar payments to a Chinese government entity to help establish a clean energy investment fund and a tax judge in Italy for referring wealthy clients.

    With regards to precious metals market manipulation, Deutsche Bank was accused of placing fraudulent trades to lure other stop buy and sell futures contracts at price levels they normally would not engage.

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  • Chinese retail tycoon’s fraud conviction thrown out

    Chinese retail tycoon’s fraud conviction thrown out

    China’s supreme court has thrown out the fraud conviction of a retail tycoon in an unusual gesture of official leniency toward entrepreneurs amid a string of high-profile detentions and prosecutions that has rattled the Chinese business world.

    The Supreme People’s Court ruling Thursday reversed the conviction of Zhang Wenzhong, former chairman of Wumart Stores, who served 12 years in prison on charges of improperly obtaining technology development subsidies.

    A number of Chinese businesspeople have been prosecuted or detained for questioning about possible offenses including embezzlement and bribery.

    On Wednesday, a lawyer for the imprisoned founder of the insurance company that owns New York City’s Waldorf Hotel said he planned to appeal his 18-year sentence imposed this month on fraud charges.

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  • Lotte Group Chairman jailed for duty free licence bribery

    Lotte Group Chairman jailed for duty free licence bribery

    Lotte Group, parent of the country’s leading travel retailer Lotte Duty Free, is reeling from the shock jailing of its Chairman Shin Dong-bin on 13 February 2018.

    Following a Seoul Court’s guilty verdict and simultaneous sentencing of 2 1/2 years in jail to Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin for bribery, Lotte Group voiced concerns over its future business plans.

    In an official statement, Lotte Group said the outcome was “unexpected” and it was “regretful” about the jail term, and insisted that Shin was innocent.

    “As soon as we receive the written judgement, the group will discuss with its attorneys for further process,” the group said.

    “But what worries us is not being able to achieve our promise with customers, such as listing our hotel business, completing the establishment of the holding company, as well as investment and employment expansion plans,” the group added.

    The group said it would activate its emergency management system to reassure employees, customers and shareholders.

    With Shin’s sentence, the business license for Lotte Duty Free branch in World Tower in southern Seoul may be at risk, according to industry watchers.

    The National Tax Service said it has launched a review of the licensing process upon the sentencing.

    In what is now referred to as the “duty free war” in 2015, Lotte had lost its duty free business right in the license screening process in November of that year. Then in 2016, the government announced a plan to dole out an additional duty free license in Seoul, for which Lotte won in December of the same year. The court found the duty free business as one of the management issues for Shin.

    The company will continue to support the ongoing 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games as an official partner with help of the vice president of Korea Ski Association, it added.

    Shin became the president of the Korean Ski Association in 2014 and has been supporting the Korean ski team since then. He is also a member of the 2018 PyeongChang Organizing Committee’s governing board and has been a member of the International Ski Federation since 2016.

  • South Korea prosecutors raid more Lotte Group firms

    South Korea prosecutors raid more Lotte Group firms

    South Korean prosecutors carried out further raids on businesses of the Lotte Group, a sprawling conglomerate at the centre of a bribery probe.

    At least 10 divisions were raided including its chemical and confectionery businesses, a spokesman said.

    The raids come after police swooped on the group’s headquarters on Friday.

    This caused the company to pull out of a stock market share sale worth as much as $4.5bn (£3bn).

    The allegations and police action also led Korea’s fifth largest conglomerate to pull out of bidding for the US chemicals company.

    Shares in both the chemical and confectionery group have fallen sharply since Friday’s raid.

    Bid withdrawn

    People familiar with the matter told Reuters that Friday’s raids, which involved about 200 prosecutors and investigators, were part of an investigation into a possible slush fund, although the Seoul prosecutors office could not be reached for comment.

    Lotte’s offer of shares to the public, known as an initial public offering, had been intended in part to simplify the ownership structure and improve corporate governance at the group.

    This followed a bitter feud over succession among the founding Shin family last year drew wide public criticism.

    The group has more than 90 firms in sectors as diverse as beer, hotels and chemicals, and annual revenues of around $60bn, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission.

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  • Bribery probe hammers shares of Indonesian property firm Agung Podomoro

    Bribery probe hammers shares of Indonesian property firm Agung Podomoro

    Shares in property developer PT Agung Podomoro Land Tbk plunged 10 percent on Monday, after Indonesia’s anti-graft agency launched an investigation that raised concerns that a multi-billion-dollar project could be delayed.

    Ariesman Widjaja, the firm’s chief executive officer, is suspected of bribing a member of the Jakarta provincial assembly to influence the regulation for a land reclamation, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said in a statement dated Friday.

    The anti-graft agency said it had caught the Jakarta official receiving 1.14 billion rupiah ($86,725) in cash from an Agung Podomoro employee at a shopping mall a day earlier.

    Agung Podomoro has plans for a project called Pluit City, which is estimated to be worth billion of dollars, on the northern coast of the Indonesian capital.

    The firm issued a statement late on Friday acknowledging that KPK had named Widjaja as a suspect, but gave no other details. The company’s directors and legal team are studying the case and are committed to obey the law, it added.

    Widjaja could not be reached for comment.

    Agung Podomoro Director Cesar M. Dela Cruz declined to comment.

    Agung Podomoro shares plunged as much as 10 percent after the market opened on Monday, hitting their lowest in more than four months. The broader Jakarta stock exchange was up 0.1 percent.

    With Agung Podomoro “on the hot seat”, the company’s mega project may be delayed indefinitely, broker Trimegah Securities said.

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