* Control Components pleaded guilty in 2009
* Executives charged but were fighting the case
* Pleas come after string of defeats for Justice Department
By Aruna Viswanatha
WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) – Two former executives at a
California valve company pleaded guilty to foreign bribery
charges, the Justice Department said on Tuesday, handing the
department a victory after a string of defeats.
Control Components Inc’s former president, Stuart Carson,
and his wife, Hong Carson, the company’s former director of
sales for China and Taiwan, pleaded guilty late Monday before a
federal judge in Santa Ana, California, the DOJ said.
The company, which makes valves used at nuclear, oil and gas
plants, pleaded guilty in July 2009 to violating the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act, which bars U.S. firms from paying bribes
to officials of foreign governments.
The company, owned by IMI plc, paid an $18.2 million
fine and admitted to paying bribes in more than 30 countries in
exchange for business from which it reaped profits of around
$46.5 million.
But many of the more than half-dozen company executives who
were also charged for their alleged role in the scheme fought
back. Two are scheduled to stand trial in June.
The guilty pleas come after several high-profile defeats for
the Justice Department’s foreign bribery team.
Earlier this year, for example, the department moved to
dismiss a case involving almost two dozen defendants in the arms
industry after prosecutors were unable to convince two juries
that what the defendants did was illegal.
Another federal judge in California in December dismissed
the conviction of power products firm Lindsey Manufacturing
based on what he said was prosecutorial misconduct.
Stuart Carson, 73, faces up to 10 months in prison. Hong
Carson, 48, faces three years of probation.
Lawyers for the Carsons did not immediately respond to
requests for comment.
