WASHINGTON – Walmart Inc said yesterday it will pay $282 million to settle a seven-year-long investigation into whether its overseas units in Mexico, Brazil, China and India violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The retailer will pay more than $144 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission and about $138 million to resolve parallel criminal charges by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to court and regulatory filings.

In a separate regulatory filing, Walmart said the $282 million was part of a “global settlement” and ended all FCPA-related investigations into the retailer and its overseas businesses. The Justice Department launched an investigation of the retailer after a series of New York Times articles in 2012 described alleged bribes paid by Walmart in Mexico to obtain permits to build stores there.

The reports spurred a wide-reaching investigation by the department into the behavior of Walmart subsidiaries around the globe, including in Mexico, Brazil, China and India. “Walmart profited from rapid international expansion, but in doing so chose not to take necessary steps to avoid corruption,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said on Thursday.(Reuters)…[+]