Export-Import Bank funds went to a company accused by federal prosecutors of bribing foreign officials, records obtained by the Washington Examiner show.
The U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank is the subject of a congressional funding battle, with small-government types saying its “corporate welfare” for massive corporations like Boeing and should be eliminated.
The federal agency has figured prominently in the rhetoric of early presidential contenders. Its employees, in an effort to preserve their jobs, say that most of its transactions help small American businesses.
They also grease multimillion dollar foreign deals for companies like Diebold Inc., which the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission charged in 2013 with foreign corruption in China and Russia.
The Ohio-based company paid nearly $50 million in penalties and agreed to accept a “compliance monitor” in exchange for deferred prosecution.
“Diebold paid bribes and falsified documents in connection with the sale of ATMs to bank customers in China, Indonesia, and Russia,” federal prosecutors said in a statement two years ago.
“Diebold attempted to disguise the payments and benefits through various means, including by making payments through third parties designated by the banks and by inaccurately recording leisure trips for bank employees as ‘training.’ The court documents also allege that from 2005 to 2009, Diebold created and entered into false contracts with a distributor in Russia for services that the distributor was not performing.”
An inspector general’s report shows that Ex-Im complied with lending its support to the company because the specific Ex-Im money involved transactions with Kazakhstan, not Russia or China.
In the inspector general’s review, Ex-Im officials said that funding recipients sign a certificate saying that they “have not engaged, or will engage, in any activity … that is a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” but noted that it also contains the caveat “in connection with this transaction.”
Kazakhstan, in central Asia, is a notoriously corrupt country, but the specific Department of Justice case did not involve that nation.
Ex-Im provided about $83 million in “insured shipments, guaranteed credit or disbursed loan[s],” according to federal data.
Spokesmen for the Ex-Im Bank did not immediately return a voicemail left this weekend seeking comment. A spokesman for Diebold did not return a similar email message.
