Wal-Mart wrestles with blowback from bribery probe
HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 4/23/2012 12:44:33 PM
Bentonville, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. stock was down nearly 5% at mid-day, a reaction to a New York Times investigative report yesterday that alleged Wal-Mart engaged in bribery to fuel its expansion in Mexico, potentially violating the U.S.'s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The article also claimed senior Wal-Mart executives stifled an internal investigation.
Wal-Mart issued a statement April 21 ahead of the article's publication noting that many of the alleged activities took place more than six years ago. It said its own internal investigation is ongoing.
"If these allegations are true, it is not a reflection of who we are or what we stand for," the company said in a statement.
"We have met voluntarily with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to self-disclose the ongoing investigation on this matter. We also filed a 10-Q in December to inform our shareholders of the investigation. The company's outside advisors have and will continue to meet with the DOJ and SEC to report on the progress of the investigation," it stated.
Right, silly me, thinking that a scummy law breaking company like Wal_mart, with a long standing history of bending rules, might need to be forced to do the right thing. Maybe we should just send them to bed without dinner for one night, and then I'm sure they'll suddenly see the light, and start doing the right thing, on their own. No need to worry about years of bribery, and coverups.
Ross Ogden - 2012-04-23 15:01:56 EDTSonnds like another attempt for more gov reulations
joe alesi - 2012-04-23 14:52:40 EDTSorry, STATUTE of Limitations.
Ross Ogden - 2012-04-23 14:34:39 EDTJust another example of Wal-Mart's true character. While WM admittedly understands the importance of 'image', and has done a good job building theirs as a champion of the common people, the actual reality is something quite different. At what point does America finally realize that Wal-mart isn't what they want us to believe they are, but rather they are the sum of all the negative stories, reports, and law suits that we have heard over the past several years. They are preditory competitors, small business killers, historic downtown kilers, anti women, anti health care, anti environment, anti 'made in America', and now this? Wal-mart is the quintessentual example of why big business needs to be heavily regulated. If self serving scum like the Wal-mart executives are allowed to self regulate, they will ALWAYS bend the rules in their favor, and ALWAYS make excuses after the fact. I'm particularly struck by their comments that these allegations happened over 6 years ago. What is their point? That it's now too late to do anything about it, since the statue of limitations now applies? We need to send these crooks a clear message, and move our business to Target, K-Mart, Kohl's, Costco, Family Dollar, etc. There are plenty of very viable options. We don't need Wal-Mart.
Ross Ogden - 2012-04-23 13:57:25 EDT-
Walgate
May 5, 2012
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