Walmart: Low prices, dirty money
Ian Bassin - Avaaz
Dear friends across the United States,
It’s outrageous! Walmart paid $24 million in bribes to Mexican officials so they could dominate the market -- and then top executives in the U.S. tried to cover it up. Let’s tell U.S. prosecutors that we want the criminals held to account. Click below to sign the petition:
|
It’s always the cover up that gets you! This time, rampant corruption by Walmart could bring down their global CEO for trying to hide the evidence, but only if we act now.
A blockbuster investigation just revealed that Walmart ran a $24 million bribery campaign to ensure its takeover of the Mexican retail market. Then they promoted the guy who ran it and had him train others. Now, only if we demand that prosecutors bring criminal charges against the individuals responsible will we stop Walmart from exporting corruption to more governments around the world.
Click below to sign the petition urging the Department of Justice to criminally charge the corrupt executives and tell everyone -- it will be delivered in spectacular fashion when we reach 100,000 signatures:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/walmart_dirty_money_d/?vl
Walmart is already one of the worst corporate actors there is, lowering labor standards, putting local stores out of business, and sucking money out of every community it invades. Now we know it’s corrupting governments as well and tilting the playing field to win by cheating. Walmart has already expanded to 26 countries and they no doubt have their sights set on more. Unless we take action now, they’ll continue to burn their destructive path through more neighborhoods around the world.
But we have a chance to turn the tide. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal to bribe foreign officials and the Federal securities laws and Sarbanes-Oxley make it illegal to cover it up. If we turn up the heat on federal prosecutors to hold these gold-counting executives personally liable, we can hold Walmart accountable and send a warning to corporate America: you break the rules, you pay the price.
The criminal trail leads all the way to the feet of CEO Mike Duke and former CEO Lee Scott. But until bigshots like these face personal heat, we won’t rein in corporate cheating. Sign the petition now:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/walmart_dirty_money_d/?vl
In his State of the Union address, President Obama said he would restore an America in which everyone gets a fair shot and everyone plays by the same set of rules, including the rich and powerful. This is the perfect case to begin to make that promise real.
With hope and determination,
Ian, Mia, Allison, Luis, Ricken, Alice and the whole Avaaz team
SOURCES
Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed Up by Wal-Mart After Top-Level Struggle (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/business/at-wal-mart-in-mexico-a-bribe-inquiry-silenced.html?_r=1
Weighing the Legal Ramifications of the Walmart Bribery Case (NY Times)
Why Walmart is in Big Trouble for Hushed up Mexican Bribery Allegations (Forbes)
A Study of Individual Liability under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Chadbourne & Parke)
http://www.chadbourne.com/files/upload/Peeler_ComplianceQuarterly_2011Report.pdf