Walmart (NYSE:WMT) CEO Mike Duke is getting further caught up in the Mexican bribery scandal that is engulfing the firm.
A set of emails released by Congressmen Henry Waxman and Elijah Cummings indicate that senior Walmart executives knew that officials of Walmart’s Mexican subsidiary, Walmart de Mexico SAB (PINK:WMMVY), were being accused of bribing Mexican officials, Reuters reports. The emails indicate that Walmart senior staff, including Duke, were briefed by the firm’s attorneys as far back as 2005.
The scandal centers on bribes allegedly paid by executives of Walmart de Mexico to facilitate the building of stores in the country. Following the briefing by its lawyers, Walmart shifted the investigation back to its Mexican subsidiary, and it went no further.
Waxman and Cummings have requested that Walmart make Maritza Munich, the lawyer who authored some of the emails, available for questioning. The congressman gave the firm until Jan. 24 to comply. A spokesman for Walmart said the firm had turned over all documents to the Department of Justice, and that “There is no new information in the letter released today.”
