Nordam Settles China Bribes Case

Privately held aircraft maintenance company Nordam Group Inc. will pay $2 million and enter into a three-year non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ to resolve FCPA violations.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma company and affiliates bribed 'employees of airlines created, controlled and exclusively owned by the People’s Republic of China in order to secure contracts' from those airlines, the DOJ said Tuesday.

To disguise the bribes, three of Nordam's employees entered into sales representation agreements with fictitious entities. The money was then used by Nordam to bribe the airline employees.

In 2007, according to its website, Nordam 'secured a seven-year, multimillion-dollar contract from China Airlines to overhaul Boeing 747 thrust reversers.'

As reasons for the low fine and non-prosecution agreement, the DOJ cited Nordam's 'timely, voluntary and complete disclosure of the conduct, its cooperation with the department and its remedial efforts.'

The $2 million fine was below the standard range under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the DOJ said. But it was '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.'

In March, another aircraft maintenance company from Tulsa, Oklahoma, BizJet International Sales and Support Inc., paid an $11.8 million criminal fine to resolve FCPA offenses in Latin America.

BizJet's owner, Lufthansa Technik AG of Germany, also entered into a three-year deferred prosecution with the DOJ.

The DOJ's July 17, 2012 release about Nordam is here.