Friday, March 21, 2008

Justice Dept. Opens Alcoa Bribery Probe

The Justice Department is opening a criminal inquiry into allegations that Alcoa Inc. was involved in bribery in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain.

Allegations against Alcoa by the government of Bahrain in a recent civil lawsuit in Pittsburgh are "the subject of an ongoing federal criminal investigation," prosecutors said last night in a filing seeking a temporary hold on the civil case in order to protect their criminal inquiry.

The suit claims that for 15 years Alcoa systematically overcharged Alba for supplies of alumina, a precursor to aluminum used in smelting. Some of the proceeds of the overcharges were used to fund potentially improper payments to a senior Bahrain government official who is already under investigation in that country, according to court papers and interviews.

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