Anti-Corruption Group Eyeing Aluminum Bribery Case

Manama, Bahrain (AHN) -The Bahrain Transparency Society (BTS) will probe the alleged "landmark" corruption case of Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C (Alba).

"This is an $8 billion scandal which is only losses excluding the bribes paid to officials," claims BTS President Abdulnabi Al Ekry. He told AHN that the Alba case was one of the important resolutions the newly elected board had decided to take up.

BTS is part of Transparency International (TI), a global civil society organisation which fights against corruption.

Alba, one of the world's largest aluminum smelters, is seeking more than $1 billion in damages from Pittsburgh-based Alcoa Inc. The Associated Press reported that Alba filed a civil lawsuit against Alcoa, the world's third-largest aluminum producer, accusing the company of bribing officials through a series of shell companies controlled by Alcoa, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments.

The judge temporarily halted the trial in March to allow U.S. federal investigators to conduct a criminal probe.

"There is a difference in real and nominal price of aluminium in the present market. The price of aluminum presently is about $2,000 dollars per pound, but according to my information it is sold to Alcoa under the agreement at $1,300 per pounds till 2015," Al Ekry claimed.

According to local media here, Alba company officials said that no action would be taken against any official in the Kingdom suspected of accepting bribes. A spokesman said the company would not comment or reveal the names as the case was in the U.S. courts.

Alcoa got deeper into trouble on May 6 when the Hawaiian Structural Ironworkers Pension Trust Fund, which owns Alcoa shares, filed a shareholder lawsuit in U.S. federal court seeking damages for financial losses incurred because of the bribery allegations.

Al Ekry said BTS would be holding a series of meeting with Alba officials and lawmakers to probe the issue.

"At the moment, we are in the planning stage for conducting a workshop on the issue. Company officials, lawmakers and the press will attend the meet. A report will be prepared on our findings and sent to TI," he said.

Alba has annual production capacity of more than 830,000 metric tonnes. Bahrain's aluminum is exported to more than 25 countries.

Bahrain is rated 5.0 in the 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index by TI. Zero is considered "highly corrupt," while 10 is "highly clean."