The consultants, which did little or no actual consulting work for Panasonic Avaionics (PAC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation, were retained through a third-party service provider and were paid for out of a budget over which a senior PAC executive had complete control and discretion, without meaningful oversight by anyone at PAC or Panasonic. One such individual was offered the consulting position by PAC at the time that he was employed by a state-owned airline and involved in negotiating a lucrative contract amendment on behalf of the airline with PAC. According to court documents, that consultant was subsequently paid $875,000 by PAC over a six-year period and PAC earned over $92 million in profits from portions of the contract over which the consultant had some involvement or influence while employed with the airline.
Panasonic Avionics Corporation (PAC), a subsidiary of multinational electronics company Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic), has agreed to pay a $137.4 million criminal penalty to resolve charges arising out of a scheme to retain consultants for improper purposes and conceal payments to third-party sales agents, in violation of the accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)