Walmart paid millions in India as bribes: report

In a serious development, The Wall Street Journal has reported that American multinational retail corporation Walmart is suspected to have paid bribes worth millions of dollars in India.

The report said Walmart's "suspected bribery" unearthed in India involves thousands of small payments to low-level local officials to help move goods through customs or obtain real-estate permits.

"The vast majority of the suspicious payments were less than $200, and some were as low as $5, but when added together they totalled millions of dollars," the daily said.

While bribery is undoubtedly rampant in India, the amounts mentioned are so small as to stretch one's credulity – it is hard to imagine even the lowliest of government functionaries settling for a bribe of $5, or around Rs300. And even $200 would hardly be enough to bribe anyone higher than a peon.

Meanwhile, another WSJ report says a high-profile federal probe into allegations of widespread corruption at Wal-Mart Stores Inc's operations in Mexico has found little in the way of major offenses, and is likely to result in a much smaller case than investigators first expected.

Walmart shelved plans to open retail stores in India in 2013, severing a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises Ltd, and instead decided to become solely a wholesaler there.

Walmart was pushing the previous UPA government for opening up of the multi-brand retail sector, and was also involved in lobbying before the US Congress in this regard, Congressional disclosure reports have said in the past few years.

According to the report, Walmart' is unlikely to incur any penalty for its bribery efforts are its Indian operation does not yield any profit under the provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of the United States.

"Because penalties under the FCPA are often connected to the amount of profit the alleged misconduct generated, the payments in India wouldn't be likely to result in any sizable penalty, since Walmart's operations there haven't been particularly profitable, said people familiar with the matter," the daily reported.

There was no immediate response from Walmart's corporate headquarters in India to the report.

According to The Wall Street Journal, federal investigators "found evidence of bribery in India, centering on widespread but relatively small payments made to local officials there", during the course of its "high-profile federal probe" into allegations of widespread corruption at Walmart Stores Inc's operations in Mexico.