Wal-Mart ‘Hushed’ Mexican Bribery Allegation

Wal-Mart Stores  curtailed an internal investigation into allegations of bribery by executives at the retailer’s Mexican subsidiary instead of broadening the probe, the New York Times reports.

The newspaper detailed the company’s 2005 investigation by examining hundreds of internal company documents, as well as more than 15 hours of interviews with former Wal-Mart de Mexico executive Sergio Cicero Zapata, who recounted years of payoffs to government officials.

It looked at thousands of government documents related to store permit requests throughout Mexico and found many instances of permits being granted within weeks or days of Wal-Mart de Mexico’s payments to two outside lawyers who gave cash to the officials.

Wal-Mart decided in February 2006 to turn the investigation over to the then general counsel of the Mexican subsidiary, Jose Luis Rodriguezmacedo Rivera, the newspaper said. Rodriguezmacedo finished the probe within weeks, concluding there was no evidence of bribes paid to Mexican government officials…

Still curious?  Check out http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/business/at-wal-mart-in-mexico-a-bribe-inquiry-silenced.html?_r=1&ref=business&gwh=29492