Honeywell Agrees to Pay $160 Million Over Bribery Schemes in Brazil, Algeria

By Bloomberg

Dec 19, 2022

image is BloomburgMedia_RJNBYZDWX2PS01_19-12-2022_19-00-07_638070048000000000.jpg

Signage outside the Honeywell avionics facility in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on Friday, April 8, 2022. The VA-X4, Vertical Aerospace's flagship electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, will feature Honeywell's fly-by-wire controls and next-gen avionics.

(Bloomberg) -- Honeywell International Inc. agreed to pay more than $160 million to settle US claims the company took part in bribery schemes in Brazil and Algeria

The aerospace manufacturer admitted to offering at least $4 million in bribes to a high-ranking Brazillian government official in a 2010 bidding process at Petrobras, a state-owned oil and gas production company, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Employees at the company’s Belgian subsidiary also paid more than $75,000 in bribes to an Algerian government official in 2011 to gain business with Sonatrach, a state-owned oil company. The SEC found that the acts violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The SEC settlement includes an offset of around $38.7 million of payments to Braziliian authorities and about $42.4 million to the SEC.

“For years, Honeywell neglected to implement sufficient internal accounting controls to mitigate against known corruption risks in countries like Brazil and Algeria,” said Charles Cain, chief of the SEC enforcement division’s FCPA unit. “This failure created an environment in which Honeywell employees and agents could and did facilitate bribes.”

Honeywell also agreed to pay over $78 million to settle similar criminal charges by the Justice Department, as well as additional charges brought by the Brazillian government.

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By Zijia Song