AIRCRAFT MAINTAINANCE COMPANY AGREES TO PAY $2 MILLION TO SETTLE FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES CHARGES

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Nordam Group Inc. Resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations and Agrees to Pay $2 Million Penalty

WASHINGTON – The NORDAM Group Inc., a provider of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services based in Tulsa, Okla., has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay a $2 million penalty to resolve violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

According to the agreement, NORDAM, its subsidiaries and affiliates paid bribes to employees of airlines created, controlled and exclusively owned by the People’s Republic of China in order to secure contracts to perform MRO services for those airlines. The bribes were paid both directly and indirectly to the airline employees. In an effort to disguise the bribes, three employees of NORDAM’s affiliate entered into sales representation agreements with fictitious entities and then used the money paid by NORDAM to those entities to pay bribes to the airline employees.

In addition to the monetary penalty, NORDAM agreed to cooperate with the department for the three-year term of the agreement, to report periodically to the department concerning NORDAM’s compliance efforts, and to continue to implement an enhanced compliance program and internal controls designed to prevent and detect FCPA violations.

The department entered into a non-prosecution agreement with NORDAM as a result of NORDAM’s timely, voluntary and complete disclosure of the conduct, its cooperation with the department and its remedial efforts. In addition, the agreement recognizes that a fine below the standard range under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines is appropriate because NORDAM fully demonstrated to the department, and an independent accounting expert retained by the department verified, that a fine exceeding $2 million would substantially jeopardize the company’s continued viability.

The case is being handled by Trial Attorneys Daniel S. Kahn and Stephen J. Spiegelhalter of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Leitch from the Northern District of Oklahoma also provided assistance in the case. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s team of special agents dedicated to the investigation of foreign bribery cases.