India starts bribery probe of Dow subsidiary

21 August 2007 21:25  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Indian investigators visited the Mumbai offices of a Dow AgroSciences subsidiary on Tuesday as part of a bribery probe, a company spokesman said.

Dow AgroSciences is cooperating with India's Central Bureau of Investigations, which sought documents connected to allegations of bribery, said Gary Hamlin, spokesman.

The subsidiary, Dow AgroSciences India, was known as DE-NOCIL Crop Protection at the time the alleged bribes were paid out, he said.

Parent company Dow Chemical paid a civil penalty of $325,000 (€241,000) to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle similar allegations.

Between 1996 and 2001, the subsidiary's employees were alleged to have distributed an estimated $200,000 through federal and state channels in India to advance pesticide registration applications, the SEC said in a statement.

The payments were made without authorisation of Dow or Dow AgroSciences employees in the US, the company said in a statement issued in February.

Dow said in the statement that it voluntarily notified the SEC about the payments.

Dow also fired or disciplined employees who were involved with the payments. Dow took steps to make sure employees follow the companies guidelines.

($1.00 = €0.74)

By: Al Greenwood
+1 713 525 2653

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