Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval, subsidiary settle charges of violating US law

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval and its bank subsidiary will pay over $80 million to settle charges of violating anti-corruption laws, U.S. authorities said on Thursday.

The financial conglomerate and its unit Corporación Financiera Colombiana or Corficolombiana were charged with violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

After the settlement was reached, Grupo Aval said the Justice Department did not bring any enforcement action and the SEC did not make a claim against the company for bribery. The company added it considered this “painful chapter closed.”

Corficolombiana will pay a criminal penalty of $40.6 million, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. In addition to that, the SEC said the company will pay over $40 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest as part of a resolution of the SEC’s parallel investigation.

Between 2012 and 2015, Corficolombiana conspired to offer and pay more than $23 million in bribes to high-ranking Colombian government officials to win a contract to construct and operate a highway toll road, prosecutors said.

Corficolombiana had conspired with Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht to pay bribes to Colombian government officials, according to prosecutors.

Odebrecht and its parent company, Braskem, Brazil’s largest petrochemicals company, agreed in 2016 to pay $3.5 billion to settle bribery-related charges brought by U.S., Brazilian and Swiss regulators. The scandal over bribes for public-works contracts spread to other countries where Odebrecht did business, including Peru, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia.

Ultimately, Corficolombiana earned about $28.63 million in profits from the corruptly obtained business, U.S. authorities said.

Corficolombiana also agreed to continue enhancing its compliance program and providing reports to the Justice Department regarding remediation and the implementation of compliance measures, the Justice Department said.