Wal-Mart Mexican bribery scandal

This video from the USA is called Walmart Mexico bribery scandal, tip of the iceberg in Walmart illegal and unethical acts.

By David Barstow, The New York Times News Service in the USA:

Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed Up by Wal-Mart After Top-Level Struggle

Sunday, 22 April 2012 09:54

Mexico City – In September 2005, a senior Wal-Mart lawyer received an alarming e-mail from a former executive at the company’s largest foreign subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico. In the e-mail and follow-up conversations, the former executive described how Wal-Mart de Mexico had orchestrated a campaign of bribery to win market dominance. In its rush to build stores, he said, the company had paid bribes to obtain permits in virtually every corner of the country.

The former executive gave names, dates and bribe amounts. He knew so much, he explained, because for years he had been the lawyer in charge of obtaining construction permits for Wal-Mart de Mexico.

Wal-Mart dispatched investigators to Mexico City, and within days they unearthed evidence of widespread bribery. They found a paper trail of hundreds of suspect payments totaling more than $24 million. They also found documents showing that Wal-Mart de Mexico’s top executives not only knew about the payments, but had taken steps to conceal them from Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. In a confidential report to his superiors, Wal-Mart’s lead investigator, a former F.B.I. special agent, summed up their initial findings this way: “There is reasonable suspicion to believe that Mexican and USA laws have been violated.”

The lead investigator recommended that Wal-Mart expand the investigation.

Instead, an examination by The New York Times found, Wal-Mart’s leaders shut it down.

Neither American nor Mexican law enforcement officials were notified. None of Wal-Mart de Mexico’s leaders were disciplined. Indeed, its chief executive, Eduardo Castro-Wright, identified by the former executive as the driving force behind years of bribery, was promoted to vice chairman of Wal-Mart in 2008. Until this article, the allegations and Wal-Mart’s investigation had never been publicly disclosed.

Walmart Scandal in Mexico Points to U.S. Hypocrisy: here.

Walmart Bribery Scandal Under Investigation By Department Of Justice Since 2011: Report: here.

Walmart Bribery Scandal: Retailer Took Part In Lobbying Campaign To Amend Anti-Bribery Law: here.

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: “If you haven’t heard that Walmart paid out about $25 millions dollars in bribes to build parking-lot-size stores in Mexico, you have probably been listening to a slave-wage-made Apple iPod too long. In fact, Walmart didn’t just pay the bribes; it covered up an investigation in 2005 and thereafter into the practice. The problem for Walmart is that this makes them highly likely to be in violation of a 1977 law, known as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act”: here.

Walmart to Pay More Than $4.8 Million in Back Wages for Overtime Wage Theft: here.

Walmart and art: here.

Walmart: Fifty Years of Gutting America’s Middle Class: here.

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world who sells the products that become litter along our waterways and on our beaches. Wal-Mart stores themselves also directly contribute to the litter problem. Because of the number of customers and employees outside their stores everyday, Wal-Mart’s direct litter contribution can only be estimated to be in millions of pieces: here.