Company execs scuttle investigation into Mexican payoffs
(NEWSER) - Looks like Walmart stores blew past their competition in Mexico by doling out millions of dollars in bribes—and, when the scandal came to light, sweeping it deftly under the rug, the New York Times reports. Former Walmart de Mexico executive Sergio Cicero Zapata revealed the payoffs in 2005, triggering alarm bells at Walmart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. ($27 million in foreign bribes would, after all, violate US law). But records show that Walmart execs handed off the investigation to their Mexican general counsel—himself accused of authorizing bribes. In his hands, the probe slowly died. More»
