US firm settles Thai bribery case

The US agricultural and construction equipment firm Deere has agreed to pay $10 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges that its Thai subsidiary bribed state agencies to win business.

The bribes took the form of massage parlour services, lavish overseas trips and other gifts to win government business, the SEC said in a statement released on Tuesday in Washington.

Wirtgen Thailand, the local subsidiary of Deere, committed the offences between late 2017 through 2020. The recipients were officials of state agencies including the Royal Thai Air Force, the Department of Highways and the Department of Rural Roads. 

Other bribes were paid to a large Thai construction contractor identified in the SEC case summary only as “Company A”.

The SEC said payments were made even though the subsidiary’s code of conduct prohibited giving “absolutely anything” to influence government officials. Such actions are punishable under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the United States.

The payments made from late 2017 through 2020 allegedly took the form of cash, meals, fake consulting fees, sightseeing trips disguised as “factory visits” in Switzerland and other European countries, and massage parlour “entertainment”, the SEC said.

Deere’s payment includes a $4.5-million civil fine and $1.09 million in interest.

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Vocabulary

  • bribe: money or a present given to someone so that they will help you doing something dishonest or illegal - สินบน
  • bribery: the crime of giving money or presents to someone so that they will help you by doing something dishonest or illegal - การให้สินบน
  • disguise: to change the way something appears so that people will not recognise what it is - ปลอมแปลง
  • fake: made to look like something real in order to trick people - ปลอมแปลง
  • influence: to affect or change how someone or something develops, behaves or thinks - มีอิทธิพลต่อ, ชักจูง อำนาจบังคับ
  • offence: a crime or illegal activity for which there is a punishment - การกระทำผิดกฎหมาย
  • prohibit: to not allow; to ban - ห้าม
  • recipients: people who receive something - ผู้รับ
  • settle: to reach a decision or an agreement about something, or to end a disagreement - แก้ปัญหา
  • state agency: a government department that provides a particular service - หน่วยงานรัฐ
  • subsidiary: (of a business company) owned or controlled by another company - บริษัทในเครือ

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