Data Systems & Solutions LLC (DS&S), a company based in Reston, Va., that provides design, installation, maintenance and other services at nuclear and fossil fuel power plants, has agreed to pay an $8.82 million criminal penalty to resolve violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
The department filed a two-count criminal information in the Eastern District of Virginia charging DS&S with conspiring to violate, and violating, the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions.
According to court documents, DS&S paid bribes to officials employed by the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, a state-owned nuclear power plant in Lithuania, to secure contracts to perform services for the plant. To disguise the scheme, the bribes were funneled through several subcontractors located in the United States and abroad. The subcontractors, in turn, made repeated payments to high-level officials at Ignalina via check or wire transfer.
The department also filed a deferred prosecution agreement with DS&S. Under the terms of the agreement, the department will defer prosecution of DS&S for two years. In addition to the monetary penalty, DS&S agreed to cooperate with the department, to report periodically to the department concerning DS&S’s compliance efforts, and to continue to implement an enhanced compliance program and internal controls designed to prevent and detect FCPA violations. If DS&S abides by the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement, the department will dismiss the criminal information when the agreement’s term expires.
The agreement acknowledges DS&S’s extraordinary cooperation, including conducting an extensive, thorough and swift internal investigation; providing to the department extensive information and evidence; and responding promptly and fully to the department’s requests. In addition, DS&S has engaged in extensive remediation, including terminating the officers and employees responsible for the corrupt payments; instituting a more rigorous compliance program; enhancing its due diligence protocol for third-party agents and subcontractors; strengthening its ethics policies; providing FCPA training for all agents and subcontractors; and establishing heightened review of most foreign transactions.
SOURCE: US DOJ
