American Multinational Company Fined $122 Million for Bribing South African Officials
A digital flyer features a symposium on Africa to be held on Feb. 15 in Boston by McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm. Image credit: McKinsey & Company.
McKinsey Africa entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the federal government in connection with charges of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to a Justice Department press release.
Bribed Transportation Officials
McKinsey Africa accepted the responsibility for accusations in which a senior partner agreed to pay bribes to officials at Transnet, South Africa’s state-owned and controlled custodian of ports, rails, and pipelines. They also bribed officials at Eskom Holdings, South Africa’s state-owned and state-controlled energy company, according to the agreement signed by McKinsey Africa.
In a four-year period between 2012 and 2016, McKinsey Africa obtained confidential information from South African transportation and energy officials, prosecutors say. They obtained that information by bribing the officials and used it to obtain contracts and earn $85 million in profits.
Reactions by Prosecutors
Justice Department officials hailed the agreement as a victory.
“McKinsey Africa bribed South African officials in order to obtain lucrative consulting business that generated tens of millions of dollars in profits,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York highlighted the fact the scheme allegedly took place over a number of years.
“McKinsey Africa participated in a yearslong scheme to bribe government officials in South Africa and unlawfully obtained a series of highly lucrative consulting engagements that netted McKinsey Africa and its parent entity McKinsey & Company approximately $85 million in profits,” Williams said.
“The scheme was carried out by a senior partner at McKinsey and allowed McKinsey Africa to repeatedly get awarded consulting contracts through corruption and bribes at two different state-owned entities in South Africa,” Williams added.
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