Using consultants for business development is a common business practice. However, it comes with risks. A case involving Japanese consultants bribing foreign public officials highlights the need to rigorously enforce anti-corruption monitoring controls and procedures when working with third parties.
Three executives of Transportation Consultants (JTC), a Tokyo-based consulting firm, were charged with bribing officials to win contracts for railway projects in Vietnam, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. JTC allegedly spent a total of JPY 160 million (USD 1.5 million) for kickbacks for projects funded by Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA).
The three men charged include JTC’s former chairman, its CEO and a former board member. The bribery was discovered after tax authorities in Tokyo became suspicious of expense claims related to the consulting firm’s five ODA projects.
Besides bribing senior officials in Vietnam, the JTC executives gave millions in rebates to transportation officials in Indonesia and Uzbekistan.
In April 2015, Japan suspended aid for a USD 41 million railway project in Hanoi until Vietnam returns USD 782,000 in corrupt payments given to officials at Vietnam’s state railway company.