Global Aerospace Company AAR and Former Executive of its Subsidiary Settle Charges for Bribing Nepalese and South African Officials

Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 19, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Illinois-based AAR CORP., a global provider of aviation services and products, agreed to resolve Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) charges in connection with two bribery schemes. AAR agreed to pay approximately $30 million to settle the SEC’s charges. Deepak Sharma, a former executive of a wholly owned AAR subsidiary, also settled SEC charges related to the same bribery schemes.

According to the SEC’s order, from 2015 through 2018, Deepak Sharma, who at the time was President of International Supply Chain of an AAR subsidiary, orchestrated and implemented a bribery scheme to win a contract for the sale of two Airbus A330 aircraft, valued at approximately $210 million, to Nepal Airlines, a government-owned airline. The SEC’s order finds that, as part of the scheme, AAR retained a third-party agent to pay bribes to officials who had control over the contract. According to the order, Sharma was also involved in a bribery scheme involving a contract for AAR to provide aviation services to a subsidiary of government-owned South African Airways. The SEC’s order finds that AAR paid millions of dollars in bribes to Nepalese and South African officials as part of the two schemes.

“Here, the bribes schemes took place in both Nepal and South Africa, reflecting that a deficient control environment creates fertile ground for mischief that can cross borders,” said Charles Cain, Chief of the SEC’s FCPA Unit. “This matter serves as another reminder that companies must have robust compliance and accounting controls that are commensurate with the FCPA risks they face, including with respect to their work with third parties across their business operations.”

AAR consented to the SEC’s order finding that it violated the anti-bribery, recordkeeping, and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA, and ordering it to pay $29,236,624 in disgorgement and in prejudgment interest. In a parallel action, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that it has entered into a non-prosecution agreement with AAR in which AAR agreed to pay a $26,363,029 criminal penalty.

Sharma consented to an SEC order finding that he violated the anti-bribery, recordkeeping, and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA and ordering him to pay $184,597 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, $130,835 of which is deemed satisfied by a forfeiture order in a prior agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Michelle I. Bougdanos, Jon B. Jordan, Shahriar Masud, and Sonali Singh, and supervised by David Frohlich and Thierry Olivier Desmet. The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa.