AB Volvo has agreed to pay a $7 million penalty as part of an agreement with the United States Department of Justice regarding charges brought in connection with an ongoing investigation related to the United Nations' Oil for Food program, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced.
The Department of Justice filed an agreement with AB Volvo, as well as criminal information against AB Volvo subsidiaries Renault Trucks SAS and Volvo Construction Equipment AB (VCE), in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The information charges that Renault Trucks and VCE engaged in separate conspiracies to commit wire fraud and to violate the books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
According to the agreement, AB Volvo has acknowledged responsibility for the actions of its subsidiaries, whose employees, agents, and distributors paid kickbacks to the Iraqi government in order to obtain contracts for the sale of trucks and heavy commercial construction equipment. The agreement requires the company to cooperate fully with the department's ongoing Oil for Food investigations.