Alstom pleads guilty, pays $722m fine

French industrial giant Alstom SA has pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a record fine of US$722 million in a move to end allegations of bribes to win billions of power-plant contracts overseas, including in Indonesia.

The firm?s guilty plea for breaching the US Foreign Practices Act (FPCA), which declares bribery of foreign government officials for business illegal, was processed by the federal court in Connecticut, where one of the firm?s US subsidiaries ? Alstom Power Inc. ? operates.

?In relation to these underlying charges, Alstom S.A. has agreed to plead guilty to violating the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA and to pay a fine of approximately US$772 million,? Alstom said in a press statement Monday.

The US Justice Department said Alstom falsified its records to hide the payment and handed over tens of millions of dollars in bribes to secure $4 billion in projects in Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Bahamas from roughly 2000 to 2011, The Jakarta Post reported Tuesday quoting Associated Press.

?Alstom?s corruption scheme was sustained over more than a decade and across several continents,? US deputy attorney James Cole said Monday. ?It was astonishing in its breadth, its brazenness and its worldwide consequences.?

The US Justice Department also noted that in Indonesia, the company had bribed a high-ranking legislator as well as top officials at state-owned electricity company PT PLN. In mid-April the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Izedrik Emir Moeis, a politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), now a ruling party, to three years in prison for accepting a $423,985 bribe from Alstom.

The kickbacks were provided to Emir in his capacity as a legislator at House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy, which then paved the way for the firm to obtain victory in a $268 million coal-fired power plant in Tarahan, Lampung, in 2004.

Alstom, which led the consortium for the project funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), offered him an overseas trip in 2002 to several places, such as Washington DC, the US and Paris, France, with free accommodation and other amenities, including adult entertainment.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is now further investigating the bribery case to scrutinize other suspects.

?There were a number of problems in the past and we deeply regret that,? said Alstom CEO Patrick Kron in a statement Monday. ?However, this resolution with the DOJ allows Alstom to put this issue behind us and to continue our efforts to ensure that business is conducted in a responsible way, consistent with the highest ethical standards.?

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak