Bribery: longest sentence yet for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson for the Eastern District of Virginia ordered Jumet to pay a USD15,000 fine and to serve three years of supervised release following the prison term. The 87-month sentence is the longest prison term imposed against an individual for violating the FCPA.

Jumet, 53, pleaded guilty on 13 Nov., 2009, to conspiring to break the FCPA and making a false statement to federal agents. The FCPA makes it a crime to pay or offer to pay anything of value to a foreign government official in order to obtain or retain business.

According to court documents, from approximately 1997 until July 2003, Jumet and others conspired to pay money secretly to Panamanian government officials in exchange for awarding contracts to Ports Engineering Consultants Corporation (PECC) to maintain lighthouses and buoys along Panama’s waterway.

In December 1997, the Panamanian government awarded PECC a no-bid, 20-year concession. Upon receipt of the concession, Jumet admitted that he and others authorised corrupt payments to be made to the Panamanian government officials. In total, Jumet and others caused corrupt payments of more than USD200,000 to be paid to the former administrator and the former deputy administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority and to a former high-ranking elected executive official of the Republic of Panama.

Jumet also made a false statement to federal agents about a “dividend” cheque payable to the bearer in the amount of USD18,000 that was endorsed and deposited into an account belonging to the high-ranking elected Panamanian government official.

Jumet falsely claimed that this “dividend” cheque was a donation for the high-ranking elected official’s re-election campaign, when, in fact, Jumet admitted it was given to the elected Panamanian government official as a corrupt payment for allowing PECC to receive the contract.