Le DoJ a lancé son enquête sur BAE

Des sources américaines proches du département de la justice (DoJ) US ont affirmé au Los Angeles Times que l’enquête sur le consortium BAE et les accusations de corruption est lancée. Le journal de Los Angeles donne de nombreux détails dans un article publié le 15 juin.

Le journal US met l’accent, pour justifier l’enquête du DoJ, d’une part sur l’importance de BAE sur le marché de l’armement US (avec la référence que la loi fait obligation au Pentagone de traiter avec des fournisseurs qui doivent présenter des garanties légales du point de vue de la législation anti-corruption) ; d’autre part, sur l’utilisation éventuelle du système bancaire US pour faire parvenir ses commissions à Prince Bandar, la principale personnalité saoudienne désignée dans ce scandale. Enfin, l’enquête ne doit pas se limiter aux seuls contrats avec l’Arabie.

«The Justice Department is investigating whether British defense giant BAE Systems, which supplies Bradley fighting vehicles to the U.S. military and is becoming a major player in the U.S. defense industry, paid bribes to win contracts in Saudi Arabia, Chile and elsewhere, federal officials confirmed Thursday.

»The Justice Department's fraud section, with the FBI's help, has begun a preliminary investigation to review allegations that the company conducted an ambitious campaign of payoffs to key officials to win contracts to sell fighter jets and other major weapons systems, according to several federal law enforcement officials familiar with the case. The key officials included Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former Saudi ambassador to the United States and a close Bush administration ally.

»The probe will focus on whether the company, by allegedly using U.S. banks to make some of the payments, violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and U.S. money-laundering statutes. Those laws prohibit bribery in soliciting contracts and bar companies involved in such practices from the U.S. market.

(…)

»"It's not just Saudi payments that are an issue here," but BAE's aerospace and weapons deals with numerous other countries, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation. Authorities are "looking broadly; it's a companywide thing."

»BAE confirmed last month that it faced investigations of its business dealings in Romania, South Africa, Tanzania, Chile, the Czech Republic and Qatar. The law enforcement officials said BAE-related payments in Argentina, the British Virgin Islands and other countries also would be examined.

(…)

»A top Justice Department official signaled in October that foreign-owned companies could be targeted by U.S. investigators, citing the case of a successful enforcement effort involving a Norwegian energy company that admitted to bribing Iranian officials.

»"The department will not hesitate to enforce the FCPA against foreign-owned companies, just as it does against American companies," Assistant Atty. Gen. Alice S. Fisher told an American Bar Assn. audience.

»The disclosure that Britain had shut down its probe of BAE prompted one anti-corruption watchdog group, Transparency International, to request a meeting with Justice Department fraud prosecutors last December. At the meeting, group members asked whether U.S. authorities could investigate BAE and pressure London into reopening its review.

»"They said that they would look into it, that they were concerned," Nancy Boswell, president of Transparency International USA, said of the Justice Department officials. She added that U.S. concerns were discussed at two Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development meetings earlier this year.

»Jeremy Zucker, an FCPA expert in the international trade practice at the Hogan & Hartson law firm, said a U.S. investigation was a logical next step. "In recent years, the U.S. government has demonstrated an appetite for vigorous enforcement of FCPA violations," he said.»

Mis en ligne le 17 juin 2007 à 11H59