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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
TULSA, Okla.—Aircraft maintenance firm NORDAM Group Inc. has agreed to pay a $2 million penalty to resolve violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, of the Justice Department's criminal division, said in a Tuesday statement that the Tulsa, Okla.-based firm paid direct and indirect bribes to employees of airlines created, controlled and exclusively owned by the People's Republic of China to secure contracts to perform maintenance, repair and overhaul services for those airlines.
To disguise the bribes, three employees of a NORDAM affiliate entered into sales representative agreements with fictitious entities and then used the money paid by NORDAM to those entities to pay bribes to the airline employees, according to the DOJ.
The DOJ said NORDAM had voluntarily disclosed its conduct. It said the fine, which is below the standard range under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, is appropriate because the firm had demonstrated that a larger amount would “substantially jeopardize the company’s continued viability.”
NORDAM CEO Meredith Siegfried said in a statement, “When the illegal activity was discovered, it was immediately reported to NORDAM’s Board, the appropriate authorities in Singapore, and the U.S. Department of Justice.
“We cooperated with the DOJ to investigate and resolve this matter and are pleased that, although NORDAM was required to pay a fine, the company was not prosecuted. We take our ethical business conduct and our compliance programs very seriously and will continue to improve our efforts in these areas.”