VP Sentenced to 87 Months for Panama Port Contract Bribery
The Justice Department has issued a press release announcing that Charles Jumet of Virginia was sentenced to 87 months in prison for paying bribes to former Panamanian government officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. DOJ states that this is the longest prison term imposed against an individual for violating the FCPA.
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According to the indictment, Jumet was Vice President and later President of Ports Engineering Consultants Corporation (PECC), a company incorporated in Panama with an office in Richmond, VA.
Bribery Lead to 20 Year No-Bid Lighthouse and Buoy Contract
DOJ states from approximately 1997 through July 2003, Jumet and others conspired to pay money secretly to Panamanian government officials in exchange for awarding contracts to PECC to maintain lighthouses and buoys along Panama’s waterway.
The Panamanian government awarded PECC a no-bid 20-year concession in December 1997. In total, Jumet and others caused corrupt payments of more than $200,000 to be paid to the former administrator and the former deputy administrator of the Panama Maritime Ports Authority and to a former high-ranking elected executive official of the Republic of Panama that held office during the time of these payments.
Jumet also made a false statement to federal agents about a "dividend" check that was endorsed and deposited into an account belonging to the high-ranking elected Panamanian government official.
(Jumet was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and to serve three years of supervised release following the prison term. In a related case, John Warwick pleaded guilty for his role in the same conspiracy, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 14, 2010.)
DOJ press release (dated 04/19/10) available at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/April/10-crm-442.html
Jumet indictment available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/22522818/Jumet-Indictment