A Brazilian power generation company agreed to settle SEC charges that it violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA").
According to the SEC Order, former officers at a majority-owned subsidiary of Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. ("Eletrobras") engaged in a bid-rigging and bribery scheme during the construction of a nuclear power plant in Brazil. The officers allegedly authorized "unnecessary contractors" and increased the price of the project, in exchange for approximately $9 million in payments from private construction companies. As part of the same scheme, payments were also made to at least two Brazilian political parties and other Brazilian government officials. The SEC alleged that Eletrobras did not have the necessary internal accounting controls to detect and address such activity, allowing the invoices of the inflated contracts to go undetected and resulting in misstatements in the company's books and records.
Eletrobras agreed to pay to the SEC a civil penalty of $2.5 million.
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