Wal-Mart Emerges as Money Laundering Suspect
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Two US officials who have been investigating bribery allegations against Wal-Mart revealed yesterday that new findings have emerged, with evidence suggesting the company’s compliance lapses may have extended to “questionable financial behaviour”, including tax evasion and money laundering.
Two US officials who have been investigating bribery allegations against Wal-Mart revealed yesterday that new findings have emerged, with evidence suggesting the company’s compliance lapses may have extended to “questionable financial behaviour”, including tax evasion and money laundering.
In a letter addressed to Wal-Mart’s chief executive officer Michael Duke, lawmakers Elijah Cummings and Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and House Energy Committee said they have obtained a trove of internal documents related to allegations of systemic bribery.
Cummings and Waxman launched their own review of Wal-Mart earlier this year after The New York Times reported that the world’s largest retailer had intentionally stifled an internal probe into bribery in its Mexican affiliate, Wal-Mart de Mexico.
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According to the Times’ exposé, Wal-Mart de Mexico, the company’s largest foreign subsidy had “orchestrated a campaign of bribery to win market dominance” and “there is reasonable suspicion to believe Mexican and USA law have been violated.”
While Wal-Mart has said it is cooperating with the US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigations, Cummings and Waxman said the company has been uncooperative with the congressional probe, “failing to provide documents we requested” and “denying us access to key witnesses.”
They said:
[quote] We have obtained internal company documents, including audit reports, from other sources suggesting that Wal-Mart may have had compliance issues relating not only to bribery, but also to ‘questionable financial behaviour’ including tax evasion and money laundering Mexico. [/quote]
It is unclear how many details the lawmakers’ investigative report may contain.
The pair gave the company a final chance to respond to allegations before they release an investigative report on alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
A spokesperson from Wal-Mart said today the company is doing what it can to address requests from Congress.
The news comes weeks after a series of money-laundering scandals were made public. In particular, HSBC was accused money-laundering for drug cartels and terrorist groups.
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