The new Alcatel-Lucent bribery scandal involving former officials of the Honduran State telephone company, Hondutel, has added a higher profile to the first bribery case of Hondutel’s, in 2007. That case involved the company LatiNode, which is still under investigation.

This time, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] announced on Monday that the company Alcatel-Lucent agreed to pay $137 million to close an alleged corruption case. The company Alcatel-Lucent is accused of bribing officials in Costa Rica, Honduras, Malaysia and Taiwan between December of 2001 and June of 2006. According to the complaint, it is estimated that Alcatel paid around $8 million in bribes. The SEC accused Alcatel of violating the Law on Foreign Corrupt Practices in order to obtain contracts in Latin America and Asia.

The news has caused a stir amongst current authorities, who explained that the Alcatel relationship had already been investigated earlier by the Honduran High Court of Auditors, who found no improprieties.

“The information we have from the Hondutel legal counsel is that they did research Alcatel, but it ended with nothing, they found no liability at the time. We have no relations in any way with this company,” said Romeo Vásquez, the current manager of Hondutel.

The Hondutel manager explained that for many years, Hondutel’s international transactions have been conducted through the United Nations Program for Development, [UNDP]. The last negotiation with Alcaltel was in August of this year, for the acquisition of technology to migrate from the 7 to 8 digits for telephones in the cities of El Progreso and San Pedro Sula. Hondutel made two big deals with Alcatel, but they went through the UNDP, with a state liaison working for the United Nations, [UN].

“We investigated, and in regard to Alcatel, according to inside information, all projects with them have been developed through the UNDP. The last project was roughly $250,000, and was aimed at getting technology to make the change effective from 7 to 8 digits,” claimed Vásquez.

The authorities of the Court of Auditors are on vacation and will return on January 4th. At that time, the substance of the research into the Alcatel transactions may be addressed.

Hondutel’s current manager has been working to clean the reputation of the company. He ensures the public that the negotiations during his administration are on the table and not under it.

“In these cases, we have to separate the time period. This happened in the past,” he said. “…this administration thinks and sees the future. We’re giving Hondutel a reputation which is of the Honduran people,” expressed Vásquez.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecution has resumed the investigation of bribes to former Honduran officials by Alcatel-Lucent, SA for the purpose of assigning responsibility. The move came after they had knowledge of the report that the company Alcatel-Lucent pleaded guilty to bribing Honduran officials.

“In this case, international assistance should be asked for, in order to access the file and see who made the payments to them,” said the Prosecutor Against Corruption, Henry Salgado. The plan is to petition the SEC and U.S. Justice Department, “If we accept the guilt, there must be people’s names. We expect international collaboration.”

“We have to see if we can identify individuals who received money, to deduce some responsibility,” said the special prosecutor.

The investigation is covering the management of Hondutel from 2001 through 2006, the time period the U.S. statement reported that the bribes were paid. The Honduras TSC revealed that they had investigated the administration of former Hondutel manager, Luis Alonso “Chitin” Valenzuela, and found no civil or criminal liability between the years 2004 and 2005. Honduran President Ricardo Maduro Joest (2001-2005) had requested an investigation at the time the original scandal broke.

April 7, 2009 – LatinNode pleads guilty to bribing Hondutel officials

December 27, 2010 – SEC Charges Alcatel-Lucent with violations relating to Honduras

December 27, 2010 – Steve Reynolds, Alcatel-Lucent General Counsel, makes the following statement:

“We take responsibility for and regret what happened and have implemented policies and procedures to prevent these violations from happening again. The violations largely occurred prior to the merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies and involved improper activities in several countries.

These settlements resolve the company’s FCPA liability with the DOJ and SEC. We are pleased to have reached these settlements and look forward to putting these matters behind us.

Alcatel-Lucent, created as a result of the merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies at the end of 2006, is a radically different company today:

* It has different management, including a new CEO, a new executive committee and a different Board of Directors.

* It has a zero-tolerance policy regarding bribery and corruption and has a system in place with strong processes and Internet-based and live training designed to prevent these types of situations in all aspects of our business.

* As the first in its industry to do so, Alcatel-Lucent announced in 2008 that it would terminate the use of sales agents and consultants — the primary means by which certain former employees made the improper payments involved in the violations described in the DOJ and SEC settlement papers.”