Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wal-Mart bribery scandal
It's not just for Mexicans anymore.
As Wal-Mart reported higher-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Thursday, it also disclosed that the scope of an investigation into foreign bribery issues at the retailer seemed to have widened.Or to put it another way, they know the shit will fly but they are still waiting for it to hit the fan.
The Wal-Mart board’s audit committee is examining not just possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act at its Mexican subsidiary, as previously disclosed by the company, but “other alleged crimes or misconduct in connection with foreign subsidiaries,” the company said in a regulatory filing. And while Wal-Mart said in December that it did not expect the bribery accusations to hurt the company, it backed away from that assertion on Thursday.
“Although the Company does not presently believe that these matters will have a material adverse effect on its business, given the inherent uncertainties in such situations, the Company can provide no assurance that these matters will not be material to its business in the future,” the filing said.
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