This document shows the corrupt modus-operandi used by firms to set themselves up as preferred suppliers. Pioneer Friction 4th-tier subsidiary of Pennsylvania based Wabtec, thought nothing of informing its parent company in 2005 about the huge bribes it had been paying to the Railway Board and other senior Railway officers. Wabtec, however, got scared of the provisions of the US anti-corruption FCPA law. To escape with a light punishment, Wabtec informed US law-enforcement agencies about the greasing of palms. In 2008, the US Department of Justice penalized Wabtec a sum of $675,000. This is the DOJ document, which also lays bare how those bribes were made. Pioneer Friction was subsequently banned by the Railway Board, but till today the officers who took bribes have not been named. Incidentally Pioneer Friction was one of the 7 companies listed in Indian Ambassador to US Meera Shankar's 2009 letter to PM Manmohan Singh for bribing Indian government officials. The list of parent companies involved includes (A. Manusinghvi, R. Tata, and M. Ahluwalia protected) Dow Chemicals. The CBI is 'investigating' the cases, so 'sincerely' that still no officers have been brought to book.
US DOJ Wabtec Penalty for Corruption Details
Banning of Pioneer Friction
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