The SEC said that "from 2006 through 2012, Beam’s Indian subsidiary used third-party sales promoters and distributors to make illicit payments to government employees to increase sales orders.
Beam Suntory Inc, the company behind the Jim Beam bourbon whiskey, is currently facing major bribery allegations in India.
According to a statement by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company has agreed to pay more than USD 8 million for allegedly bribing government officials in order to increase sales orders and facilitate the distribution of products.
In one such incident in 2011, senior managers at the company's Indian subsidiary bribed an Indian official with about USD 18,000 for smoothing out the entrance of a new product. The amount was equivalent to an entire year's salary for the government official.
The SEC said that "from 2006 through 2012, Beam’s Indian subsidiary used third-party sales promoters and distributors to make illicit payments to government employees to increase sales orders, process license and label registrations, and facilitate the distribution of Beam’s distilled spirit products.
These parties were reimbursed through inflated or fabricated invoices and expenses were falsely recorded at the subsidiary level.
The company is currently cooperating with the US Department of Justice and has set up an internal probe against the matter. It also released a statement saying that it is "committed to doing business the right way everywhere we operate."