Food Health Bribery

Monsanto fined for bribing Indonesian officials to avoid environmental studies for Bt cotton. The Bt cotton was introduced in Indonesia in 2001 but taken off the market again by 2003 because it failed: it produced lower yields, it didn't protect the cotton plants against the relevant pests, and even Monsanto did not find it "economically viable".

On 6 January 2005, Monsanto (USA) was fined US$ 1.5 million for bribing government officials in Indonesia to avoid a decree that demanded an environmental risk assessment for the Bt cotton Bollgard. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Monsanto with illicit payments in violation with the Foreign Corruption Act (FCAP), with bribery including US$ 50,000 in cash to repeal an decree requiring an environmental risk assessment, falsifying books and invoices, and “questionable payments” such as for the purchase of land and the design and construction of a house in the name of the wife of a senior Ministry of Agriculture official. Such payments of approximately US$ 700,000 were made to at least 140 current and former Indonesian government officials and their family members from 1997 to 2002 (SEC 2005).