Wal-Mart Continues Bribery Investigation

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — In the wake of  a New York Times investigation published Tuesday portraying Wal-Mart Stores as “an aggressive and creative corruptor” that grew its Mexico business behind bribes, the retailer here said its own investigation into potential violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was continuing.

Wal-Mart also said it was cooperating with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission on the matter.

“At this point, the investigation is still ongoing and we have not yet reached final conclusions. A thorough and independent investigation will take time to complete. We wish we could say more but we will not jeopardize the integrity of the investigation,” David Tovar, Wal-Mart’s vice president of corporate communications, said in a statement. “We are committed to having a strong and effective global anti-corruption program everywhere we operate and taking appropriate action for any instance of non-compliance.

Read more: Wal-Mart Addresses Scandal

“While the investigation is ongoing, we have not waited to act. Over the past 20 months, we have made significant improvements to our compliance programs around the world and have taken a number of specific, concrete actions with respect to our processes, procedures and people,” he added.

A Times article earlier this year revealed that Wal-Mart officials were aware of bribery charges in Mexico but took little action. Tuesday’s article detailed results of the newspaper’s own investigation into corruption in Mexico, identifying 19 stores that were targets of bribes orchestrated by Wal-Mart de Mexico, allowing the company to establish market dominance there and subvert building and safety regulations and public events and debates.

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