WASHINGTON — Top Democrats on two House committees Tuesday complained that Walmart Stores Inc. is not cooperating enough with them in their investigation into allegations that the company may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
U.S. Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., sent a letter Tuesday to Walmart Chief Executive Officer Michael Duke complaining that he had not provided them with requested documents and declined to allow Walmart employees to brief staff about the allegations.
David Tovar, a spokesman for Walmart, said the company is cooperating with the ongoing federal investigations, and as appropriate, will assist Congress in understanding Walmart efforts to address FCPA issues.
“We are committed to a full and independent investigation. A thorough investigation will take time and it is in the early stages. It would be inappropriate for us to comment further on specific allegations or to come to conclusions before the investigation is complete,” Tovar said.
Cummings is ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Waxman is ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The Democrats had sent Duke a letter in April seeking a meeting with executives of the Bentonville-based retail giant to discuss the allegations stemming from a New York Times report that Walmart executives had hushed up a vast bribery case involving its subsidiary in Mexico.
The company provided their staffs with a briefing in May that was conducted by attorneys with Greenberg Traurig in Washington, D.C. Cummings and Waxman said the outside counsel for Walmart declined to answer any questions about Walmart’s potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. They also said they had no substantive knowledge of company actions relating to the Mexico bribery allegations.
The attorneys did say that they were hired last year and conducted a worldwide assessment of the company’s anti-corruption policies and made a series of recommendations that resulted in the company revising its policies and procedures, Waxman and Cummings said.
However, the attorneys declined to provide the Democrats with copies of the reports or any specific information.
Another briefing is scheduled for Wednesday where the attorneys are expected to brief the Democrats on the investigative protocols the company used to examine the bribery allegations in Mexico. No Walmart officials are planning to attend.
In their letter to Duke, Waxman and Cummings ask that the company reconsider and that company officials come to the briefing to discuss the role Walmart officials may have played in exposing or covering up bribery allegations.
The Democrats also requested more documents that would spell out the company’s anti-corruption and ethics policies before and after the recent revisions that included the creation of a new Global FCPA Compliance officer position.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the Oversight panel, has not said if he will launch an official investigation of the alleged Walmart bribery scandal.