Covering Their Tracks
With over 2.2 million employees worldwide, Walmart has faced a torrent of lawsuits and issues with regard to its workforce. These issues involve low wages, poor working conditions, inadequate health care, as well as issues involving the company’s strong anti-union policies. Walmart de Mexico’s accounting department would claim that the money they were spending was just legal fees.
Covering Their Tracks
This would also show on the invoices they sent to Walmart International. But it was an inside source that revealed what was really going on, fueling a full investigation. The story then reached The New York Times.
A Global Issue
When a series of New York Times articles in 2012 exposed alleged bribes made by Walmart in Mexico to acquire permission to open stores there, the Justice Department initiated an investigation into the business. Mexico may have been the first country to be involved in bribery, but it certainly wasn’t the last.
A Global Issue
Walmart officials were allegedly taking and giving bribes in other countries like China, India, and Brazil. The claims were that bribes were the only way to ensure that projects would get done.