On March 28, 2019, ABB announced in a securities filing that it had self-reported to the SEC, DOJ, and various authorities in South Africa and other countries “potential suspect payments and other compliance concerns in connection with some of the Company’s dealings with” South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings. ABB further disclosed that “[m]any of those parties have expressed an interest in, or commenced an investigation into, these matters and the Company is cooperating fully with them.”
ABB announced in February 2017 that it had disclosed the findings of an internal investigation regarding past interactions between ABB subsidiaries and Unaoil to enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Britain, and stated that the SFO was conducting an investigation. In its most recent filing, ABB reiterated that this investigation remains ongoing.
ABB previously resolved FCPA offenses in 2004 (for which it paid $16.4 million to the DOJ and SEC as a result of conduct in Nigeria, Angola, and Kazakhstan) and 2010 (for which it paid $58.3 million to the DOJ and SEC as a result of conduct in Mexico and in connection with the UN’s Oil for Food program in Iraq).