February 12, 2011

Tyson fined for bribery

Tyson Foods Inc. was fined over US$5 million for bribing two Mexican veterinarians to facilitate its poultry exports.

The Justice Department said it fined Tyson US$4 million for paying the men US$90,000 to obtain export certification for products from its Tyson de Mexico (TdM) subsidiary during 2005-06. In a parallel action, the Securities and Exchange Commission penalised the company US$1.2 million for violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, putting the amount of the bribes at US$100,311. The SEC fine was in the form of "disgorgement," or giving up ill-gotten gains from the bribes, which were put at US$880,000. The case involved Tyson de Mexico's three poultry processing plants in Gomez Palacio, in north central Mexico.

Tyson Foods used false books and sham jobs to hide bribe payments made to publicly-employed meat processing plant inspectors in Mexico, according to Justice Department assistant attorney general Lanny Breuer.