Assistant attorney general Lanny Breuer announced yesterday that Nordam “has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay a $2 million penalty to resolve violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).” Nordam, a Tulsa, Okla., MRO provider, has also agreed to cooperate with the DOJ for three years, including periodic reports on compliance efforts, and the company must “implement an enhanced compliance program and internal controls designed to prevent and detect FCPA violations.”

The DOJ elected not to prosecute Nordam because the company made a “timely, voluntary and complete disclosure.”

The agreement notes that “Nordam, its subsidiaries and affiliates paid bribes to employees of airlines created, controlled and exclusively owned by the People’s Republic of China to secure contracts to perform MRO services for those airlines. The bribes were paid both directly and indirectly to the airline employees. In an effort to disguise the bribes, three employees of Nordam’s affiliate entered into sales representation agreements with fictitious entities and then used the money paid by Nordam to those entities to pay bribes to the airline employees.”

In a statement, Nordam CEO Meredith Siegfried told AIN, “When the illegal activity was discovered, it was immediately reported to Nordam’s board, the appropriate authorities in Singapore and the U.S. Department of Justice. We cooperated with the DOJ to investigate and resolve this matter and are pleased that, although Nordam was required to pay a fine, the company was not prosecuted. We take our ethical business conduct and our compliance programs very seriously and will continue to improve our efforts in these areas.”