An ironworkers' pension fund has sued aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. and its board of directors over a purported scheme to bribe officials in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh comes after a judge in March temporarily halted a civil lawsuit against the company to allow federal investigators to conduct a criminal probe into the allegations.
The Hawaii Structural Ironworkers Pension Trust Fund accuses Alcoa's board in the lawsuit of "causing and/or failing to prevent Alcoa's illegal payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal bribe payments" to senior Bahraini government officials.
The Pittsburgh-based company's officers and directors "repeatedly misrepresented how they were overseeing, managing and operating Alcoa in a lawful and ethical manner," the pension fund said in its lawsuit, according to court documents.
Kevin Lowery, an Alcoa spokesman, said he had not had a chance to thoroughly review the latest lawsuit, but that Alcoa's position on the earlier allegations had not changed.
"We have looked into this and we haven't seen any instances of wrongdoing by our employees at all," he said, adding that Alcoa was cooperating with Justice Department investigators looking into the bribery claims.
The ironworkers' pension fund, which owns Alcoa shares, is seeking unspecified damages for financial losses incurred by the alleged bribery. It also wants reforms intended to broaden shareholder rights and tighten the company's governance and accounting practices.
The size of the fund's stake in Alcoa was not immediately known.
The bribery allegations first surfaced in February, when a company controlled by the Bahrain government, Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C. or Alba, filed a civil lawsuit against Alcoa and affiliates, seeking more than $1 billion in damages.
The Bahraini company accused Alcoa, the world's third-largest aluminum producer, of bribing officials through overseas shell companies to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments over a 15-year period starting in 1993.
Alba operates one of the world's largest aluminum smelters and has been an Alcoa customer for roughly three decades. It buys most of its alumina _ a material used to make aluminum _ from Alcoa.
The pension fund, which oversees the retirement savings of ironworkers in Hawaii, has accused Alcoa and its directors of breach of fiduciary duty, abuse of control, gross mismanagement, waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment.
"Even if Alba's civil suit is not successful, if criminal charges are never brought or proven, and if Alcoa is not forced to disgorge profits tainted by illegality, the company will expend millions of dollars responding to the claims," the fund said in its lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Alcoa named Klaus Kleinfeld as its new chief executive on Thursday. Kleinfeld had been Alcoa's president and chief operating officer since August 2007 and a board member since 2003. He succeeded Alain Belda, who will continue as board chairman.
The announcement came as Alcoa shareholders gathered for the company's annual meeting in Pittsburgh.
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On the Net:
Alcoa Inc.: http://www.alcoa.com
Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C.: http://www.aluminiumbahrain.com/en/default.asp
U.S. Department of Justice Fraud Section: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/
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