German-based insurer Allianz SE has agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $12.3 million to settle charges that it bribed officials in Indonesia for the placement of insurance contracts.

In a statement, the SEC says it uncovered 295 insurance contracts that a subsidiary of Allianz "obtained or retained" through improper payments totaling $650,626. The payments were made on "large government projects" to employees of state-owned entities.

Allianz made more than $5.3 million in profits as a result of the payments, says the SEC.

"Allianz's subsidiary created an 'off-the-books' account that served as a slush fund for bribe payments to foreign officials to win insurance contracts worth several million dollars," says Kara Brockmeyer, chief of the SEC enforcement division's of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Unit, in a statement.

The bribe scheme took place between 2001 and 2008 when the company was still listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The SEC says the practices were brought to its attention through two complaints, one in 2005 and the second in 2009.

In the 2005 complaint was made after an auditor's report revealed "unsupported payments to agents" and stated that managers in Indonesia were using "special purpose accounts" to make illegal payments to Indonesian government officials in order to secure business in the country.

In 2009, an external auditor filed a complaint that the company did not account for certain payments on its books. The payments were disguised as overriding commissions for an agent or reimbursements for overpayment.

The company, the SEC says, lacked "sufficient internal controls to detect and prevent the wrongful payments and improper accounting."

According to a report from Reuters, the Department of Justice closed a criminal investigation into these same allegations earlier this year because of difficulty obtaining information from German authorities.

Allianz spokesman Michael Matern, says the insurer became aware of problems in its Indonesia office in 2009 and began its own internal investigation that led to improvements and enhancements in compliance matters throughout the company.

Allianz implemented a group-wide anti-corruption program that goes so far as pre-approval of gift and entertainment to government officials. The company, he says, has also beefed up its training of employees since the bribery incident.

"It is obviously unacceptable behavior," says Matern.

Allianz neither admitted nor denied guilt as part of the agreement.

Updated with Allianz comments

Special Reports /

Allianz Pays $12.3M to Settle FCPA Violations

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