Executives and government personnel in the U.S., the UK and Poland have been charged in connection with the plea bargain signed by French power and transportation firm Alstom SA. Meanwhile, Bahamians are waiting to see if information that may be turned over by U.S. authorities will lead to any charges in this jurisdiction.
Some Bahamians have expressed outright disbelief that any charges will be brought as a result of any investigation into allegations that Alstom bribed a Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) board member between 1999 and 2003 to swing a lucrative power contract the company's way.
Despite that skepticism public and private sector personnel are already before the courts in the U.S., the UK and Poland in connection with the case, which alleges that bribes were paid in a number of countries. On December 18, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Alstom - through its U.S.-traded and U.S.-registered subsidiaries - under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), with bribing government executives around the world to secure power and transportation contracts for Alstom subsidiaries.
The company pled guilty to the charges and agreed to pay a whopping fine of more than $770 million. The justice department said Alstom paid more than $75 million to secure $4 billion in projects around the world.
At least four top Alstom executives have been charged separately in the United States in connection with the plea deal worked out by the company in one of the largest corporate bribery cases in recent history.
Lawrence Hoskins, an Alstom Area senior vice president for the Asia region in Alstom's International Network, Frederic Pierucci, vice president of Alstom's boiler product line. William Pomponi, vice president of Regional Sales at Alstom Power US and David Rothschild, vice president of Regional Sales at Alstom Power US, were all named in the plea agreement, and all charged separately.
Meanwhile, Polish authorities this week charged five people in a corruption case involving transport contracts won by Alstom: two ex-managers at the firm's Polish subsidiary and three former Warsaw municipal employees are suspected of links to three contracts for delivering 108 subway cars and 122 tramways to the Polish capital in 1998-2002, according to prosecutors.
The development follows September allegations from Britain's leading fraud prosecutor that a British subsidiary of Alstom paid around $8.5 million in bribes over a six-year period to win transport contracts in India, Poland and Tunisia.
Also noteworthy in the Polish incident, prosecutors have charged one person with giving bribes to a public servant.
And London's Serious Fraud Office has filed corruption charges against a British subsidiary of Alstom and two employees over securing a contract for a power plant in Lithuania, according to court documents.
Bahamas Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson, QC, has confirmed that a request has been made by Bahamian authorities for any evidence involving The Bahamas to be turned over by US authorities.
Former BEC chairman J Barrie Farrington, a number of members of the corporation's board during the time in question, and former prime minister Hubert Ingraham have all called for the matter to be turned over to the police.

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