Also bitterly ironic, Walmart touts "local sourcing" in China -- but only when it pays to. In America, Walmart has destroyed local sustainable loops from coast to coast to profit beyond behemoth proportions. Anita Chan, editor of Walmart in China also notes Walmart brings to it's Chinese stores "a unique corporate culture and management ideology, which oddly enough are reminiscent of Mao-era Chinese techniques for promoting loyalty."
In late 2005, the former secretary of the Communist Party and lead trade official in Yunnan province who reviewed Wal-Mart's building applications was convicted for bribery and abuse of public funds because his wife accepted over $15,000 in gifts from Zhou Jiali, a board member of Wal-Mart Management Service Co. Ltd.
Walmart denied complicity, but admitted setting up the company with Zhou, who held a 30% share. As the controlling partner, for Walmart not to have known what was going on is just as troubling. After Zhou was herself arrested, it came out that she had previously been party to a bribery scandal involving the provincial governor. Walmart's internal reports showed 90 cases of bribery in Asia just in the 18 months before 2006.
While visiting Canada last summer, I noticed a brand new Walmart construction site about in a farming region about an hour north of Toronto. The locals told me the community had resisted for ten years, knowing it would kill jobs on Main Street and export profits to Arkansas. Walmart kept at it though, until the tide turned in their favor. Their efforts included development of relationships with elected officials or candidates, one-sided media campaigns, and as usual, promising the impossible: lower prices for shoppers and more jobs.
Bribing Your Way Out of Bribery Charges
The explosive disclosures by Mexican Walmart whistleblower Sergio Cicero Zapata could take years to play out. Cicero was a first hand participant who meticulously gathered incriminating evidence for years. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act expert Mike Koehler observes:
In addition to the Mexico conduct, the DOJ and SEC will surely be interested in the response (or lack thereof) by company executives in Arkansas as well as the results of Wal-Mart's worldwide review of its operations. The DOJ and SEC frequently bring FCPA enforcement actions premised on payments to obtain foreign licenses, permits and the like.
Team Obama has been talking the talk, promising greater enforcement under FCPA, but has not yet walked the walk -- particularly the perp walk. Some accomplishments are listed here, but Obama's propensity for "selling justice" to Wall Street firms is duly noted.
We know that the bribery cover-up announced today is serious and that the evidence described seems unusually strong. But we also know that money talks, and Walmart is beyond compare, holding literally more money than anyone in the world.
See full article at NYaltnews.com
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