Three Former Executives Charged With FCPA Violations After Bribing Indonesian Official

Three former executives were charged with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after they tried to bribe Indonesian government officials to secure contracts, the Justice department said in a Feb. 18 press release. The agency charged Reza Moenaf and Eko Sulianto -- two executives of the Indonesian subsidiary of the French power and transportation company Alstom -- and Junji Kusunoki -- a former executive with Japanese trading company Marubeni Corporation -- with FCPA violations and money laundering. The agency said the charges are part of a “wide-ranging investigation” into corrupt practices by Alstom and Marubeni, which has resulted in guilty pleas from five other people and the two companies.

The three people allegedly bribed a member of the Indonesia legislature and the president of Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), the country’s state-owned electricity company, in exchange for a $118 million contract. The contract was awarded to Alstom’s subsidiaries in Indonesia and Connecticut and allowed Marubeni to provide “power-related services” for Indonesian citizens. The three executives hired fake consultants for the project whose “primary purpose” was to pay the bribes to the Indonesian officials, the Justice Department said. The consultants transferred the bribe money from a U.S. bank account to an Indonesian bank account for the legislative officials.