Hawaii Ironworkers' Pension Fund Sues Alcoa, Board Over Purported Bribery Scheme
(financialwire.net via COMTEX) --
Company: Alcoa, Inc. (AA)
May 9, 2008 (FinancialWire) The Hawaii Structural Ironworkers Pension Trust Fund has sued aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) and its board of directors over a purported scheme to bribe officials in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh comes after a judge in March temporarily halted a civil lawsuit against the company to allow federal investigators to conduct a criminal probe into the allegations.
The Hawaii Structural Ironworkers Pension Trust Fund has accused Alcoa's board in the lawsuit of causing and/or failing to prevent Alcoa's illegal payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal bribe payments to senior Bahraini government officials.
The lawsuit has alleged that the company's officers and directors repeatedly misrepresented how they were overseeing, managing and operating Alcoa in a lawful and ethical manner.
The ironworkers' pension fund, which owns Alcoa shares, is seeking unspecified damages for financial losses incurred by the alleged bribery. It also wants reforms intended to broaden shareholder rights and tighten the company's governance and accounting practices.
The bribery allegations first surfaced in February, when a company controlled by the Bahrain government, Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C. or Alba, filed a civil lawsuit against Alcoa and affiliates, seeking more than $1 billion in damages.
The Bahraini company accused Alcoa, the world's third-largest aluminum producer, of bribing officials through overseas shell companies to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments over a 15-year period starting in 1993.
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Company: Alcoa, Inc. (AA)
