Fourth exec charged in Indonesia Alstom bribery case

The US Department of Justice Wednesday charged a fourth person in an Indonesia bribery scandal involving officials from French power company Alstom. Lawrence Hoskins, 62, was charged with conspiring to violate America's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Under the law, the United States has the right to investigate companies listed on the American Stock Exchange as well as citizens or residents of the US believed to be engaging in foreign corrupt practices. Alstom was listed on the New York Stock Exchange until 2004. The justice department did not name Hoskins' former employer as Alstom in its statement, referring only to a "a French power and transportation company." However, it linked him to the three other current and former Alstom executives already charged in the case. One of them, French citizen Frederic Pierucci, who was arrested in April at a New York airport while still working as a company executive, pleaded guilty Monday, the justice department said in a statement. The four men are accused of paying bribes to officials in Indonesia, including a member of Parliament, in an attempt to secure a $118 million contract, in what became known as the Tarahan project. Alstom's Indonesia offices were searched in July 2012 as part of an investigation into alleged corruption.