Posted on 03/27/2013 11:34:34 AM PDT by Jyotishi
Multinational retail giant Walmart has said that the company is expected to incur financial losses in view of ongoing investigation into alleged corruption cases pertaining to its foreign subsidiaries.
“...We expect to continue to incur costs (in addition to the $157 million of costs incurred in fiscal 2013) in conducting our on-going review and investigations”, the company said in a filing to US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company claimed that Audit Committee comprising its independent directors (on board) is conducting an internal investigation into, among other things, alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practises Act (“FCPA”) and other alleged crimes or misconduct in connection with certain of our foreign subsidiaries, including Wal-Mart de Mco, S.A.B. de C.V., or Walmex.
On the scale of loss the company said, “We believe that it is probable that we will incur a loss from these matters. We cannot reasonably estimate any loss or range of loss that may arise from these matters.”
“Although we do not presently believe that these matters will have a material adverse effect on our business, given the inherent uncertainties in such situations, we can provide no assurance that these matters will not be material to our business in the future”, it stated.
It also mentioned that investigations regarding allegations of potential FCPA violations have been commenced in a number of foreign markets where the company operates, including, but not limited to, Brazil, China and India.
In India, a government-appointed inquiry committee, looking into the US lobbying activities of Wal-Mart Stores for Indian market foray, has recently met senior executives of the global retail giant and sought details on the issue.
The committee met the representatives of Walmart Asia as well as those of Bharti Walmart Private Ltd, the company’s Indian joint venture with Bharti group, along with their counsel here.
The companies were asked to provide details on queries raised by the committee, which was set up earlier this year to inquire into reports of the US-based firm’s lobbying among the American lawmakers for entering the high-growth Indian market.
The committee is also looking into “whether Wal-Mart undertook any activities in India in contravention of any Indian law” and any other matter relevant to this issue.
Keywords: Wal-Mart lobbying, Walmart Asia, Bharti Walmart Private Ltd
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File this under Too Big to Be Allowed To Succeed.
At some point you become the target of envy...
From another scandal:
Berlusconi says, bribes are necessary for doing business globally
Press Trust of India, The Indian Express, Thu Feb 14 2013
London - Defending Finmeccanica’s jailed ex-CEO Giuseppe Orsi, Italy’s three-time former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday that bribes are a necessary part of doing business globally.
“Bribes are a phenomenon that exists and it’s useless to deny the existence of these necessary situations,” Berlusconi said in a televised interview.
“These are not crimes. We’re talking about paying a commission to someone in that country. Why, because those are the rules in that country,” he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
Italian news agency ANSA quoted Berlusconi as saying that probes by Italian prosecutors into contracts Italian firms sign abroad were a form of “economic suicide”.
“Everyone knows that as well as the tenders, agreements between governments are also involved,” Berlusconi said. “The fact that there is the risk of magistrates intervening, I consider to be economic suicide,” he added.
Terming Orsi’s arrest as “pure masochism”, Berlusconi said it will hurt the prospects of other Italian businesses. “No one will negotiate with Eni or Enel or Finmeccanica anymore... It’s pure masochism,” he said. Eni is an Italian oil major, while Enel is a power producer there.
“These are absurd moralisms,” the former Italian premier said. “If you want to make moralisms like that, you can’t be an entrepreneur on a global scale.”
Nothing to worry about, they'll just pass the bill on to the customers.
Just wondering.....do gringos hang around Mexican WalMarts looking for day labor work?
File this under selective BS enforcement.
The criminal SEC just gave a pass to UBS Financial for defrauding counterparts. Under law, UBS should have been barred from managing client’s money after the Japanese UBS unit pleaded guilty of manipulating the benchmark interest rate. UBS should have been barred from managing mutual funds and funds of funds for 10 years, according to the law.
SEC said, WTF, that’s okey-dokey. UBS paid $600 million in fines and now everything is fine. Cheap price for UBS to pay for breaking the law and allowed to continue the management of $78 billion in cash and bonds.
We are truly living under friggin’ crony fascism.
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