WPP pays $19 million in bribery settlement with U.S. SEC
FILE PHOTO: Branding signage is seen for WPP, the world's biggest advertising and marketing company, at their offices in London
Katanga Johnson
Fri, 24 September 2021,
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Britain's WPP has agreed to pay more than $19 million in a settlement with U.S. authorities relating to bribery allegations and accounting controls for its subsidiaries, including in India and China.
The world's largest advertising firm did not admit or deny allegations that it violated provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act but agreed to pay the penalty, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The SEC order found that WPP failed to ensure that subsidiaries it acquired implemented its internal accounting controls and compliance policies.
WPP implemented an aggressive business growth strategy that included acquiring majority interests in many localized advertising agencies in high-risk markets, it said, citing potential conflicts in India, China, Brazil and Peru during a period between 2013 and 2018.
WPP said it had changed its business practices since then.
"As the Commission's Order recognises, WPP's new leadership has put in place robust new compliance measures and controls, fundamentally changed its approach to acquisitions, cooperated fully with the Commission and terminated those involved in misconduct," the company said in a statement.
WPP founder Martin Sorrell, who declined to comment to Reuters on the settlement, led the company for more than 30 years before he quit in April 2018. He was replaced as chief executive by Mark Read, another company veteran.
WPP failed to "promptly or adequately respond to repeated warning signs of corruption or control failures at certain subsidiaries," the SEC said.
In one example cited by the commission, a subsidiary in India continued to bribe Indian government officials in return for advertising contracts even though WPP had received seven anonymous complaints relating to the conduct.
"A company cannot allow a focus on profitability or market share to come at the expense of appropriate controls," said SEC FCPA Unit Chief Charles Cain.
Friday's move comes as the nation's top securities watchdog seeks to stamp out abuses in U.S. markets due to a lack of required controls by companies.
(Reporting by Katanga Johnson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Keith Weir and Dan Grebler)
FILE PHOTO: Branding signage is seen for WPP, the world's biggest advertising and marketing company, at their offices in London
Katanga Johnson
Fri, 24 September 2021,
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Britain's WPP has agreed to pay more than $19 million in a settlement with U.S. authorities relating to bribery allegations and accounting controls for its subsidiaries, including in India and China.
The world's largest advertising firm did not admit or deny allegations that it violated provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act but agreed to pay the penalty, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The SEC order found that WPP failed to ensure that subsidiaries it acquired implemented its internal accounting controls and compliance policies.
WPP implemented an aggressive business growth strategy that included acquiring majority interests in many localized advertising agencies in high-risk markets, it said, citing potential conflicts in India, China, Brazil and Peru during a period between 2013 and 2018.
WPP said it had changed its business practices since then.
"As the Commission's Order recognises, WPP's new leadership has put in place robust new compliance measures and controls, fundamentally changed its approach to acquisitions, cooperated fully with the Commission and terminated those involved in misconduct," the company said in a statement.
WPP founder Martin Sorrell, who declined to comment to Reuters on the settlement, led the company for more than 30 years before he quit in April 2018. He was replaced as chief executive by Mark Read, another company veteran.
WPP failed to "promptly or adequately respond to repeated warning signs of corruption or control failures at certain subsidiaries," the SEC said.
In one example cited by the commission, a subsidiary in India continued to bribe Indian government officials in return for advertising contracts even though WPP had received seven anonymous complaints relating to the conduct.
"A company cannot allow a focus on profitability or market share to come at the expense of appropriate controls," said SEC FCPA Unit Chief Charles Cain.
Friday's move comes as the nation's top securities watchdog seeks to stamp out abuses in U.S. markets due to a lack of required controls by companies.
(Reporting by Katanga Johnson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Keith Weir and Dan Grebler)
Petrofac to plead guilty to bribery after ‘deeply regrettable period’
- September 24, 2021
© Reuters.
By Yadarisa Shabong and Kirstin Ridley
(Reuters) -British oil services group Petrofac (LON:PFC) said on Friday it would plead guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery to secure projects in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the UAE between 2012 and 2015, calling it a “deeply regrettable period”.
The company indicated its plans at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being formally charged by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), drawing a line under a four-year criminal investigation. Its shares surged 25% in relief.
Petrofac, which has struggled to secure key contracts in the Middle East and has seen its shares battered during the SFO investigation, will formally enter its pleas and await sentencing at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
Petrofac said offers or payments to agents to help secure projects were made between 2011 and 2017 but that all employees involved had left.
“This was a deeply regrettable period of Petrofac’s history,” said Chairman René Medori in a statement, adding that the company’s “comprehensive programme of corporate renewal” had been acknowledged by the SFO.
“Petrofac has been living under the shadow of the past, but today it is a profoundly different business, in which stakeholders can be assured of our commitment to the highest standards of business ethics, wherever we operate,” he said.
Former executive David Lufkin, who has separately pleaded guilty to 14 charges of bribery to secure billions of dollars worth of contracts for Petrofac in the Middle East, is also expected to be sentenced on Monday.
His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In March, the UAE’s state-backed oil firm, ADNOC, barred Petrofac from competing for new contracts in the country.
It is the second corporate guilty plea secured by the SFO in five months.
Former Airbus subsidiary GPT Special Project Management pleaded guilty to corruption over military contracts for Saudi Arabia in April.
No comments:
Post a Comment