Johnson Controls noted in a quarterly filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that it self-reported allegations that it had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to U.S. regulators last year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Johnson Controls’ quarterly report read, “In June 2013, the Company self-reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations related to its Building Efficiency marine business in China dating back to 2007.”
The report continued: “These allegations were isolated to the Company’s marine business in China which had annual sales ranging from $20 million to $50 million during this period,” Johnson Controls said in the filing that it had “initiated an investigation into this matter with the assistance of external legal counsel and external forensic accountants,” and “has made and continues to evaluate certain enhancements to its FCPA compliance program.”
Johnson Controls added in the filing that it does not yet know what action if any regulators plan to take, but that the company “continues to fully cooperate with the SEC and the DOJ.”
As the FCPA Blog pointed out, this is not the first FCPA-related issue Johnson Controls has faced. In 2007, a subsidiary, York International Corp., paid $22 million to the SEC and Justice Department in order to resolve FCPA offenses related to more than $7.5 million in bribes paid to win projects around the world, including in China.
Johnson Controls, which bought York two years before those charges were brought, was not diretly charged in that case, the FCPA Blog noted.
