APMT to pay $43.2m to settle Guatemalan corruption case

APM Terminals has agreed to a $43.2 million “reparation” payment to avoid losing its concession at Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala despite the fact that alleged offences occurred before the company took over the terminal earlier this year.    APM Terminals has agreed to pay $43.2 million to settle a bribery case in Guatemala that could potentially have cost the company its operations at Puerto Quetzal.
   Under the “reparation” agreement, the port terminal operator arm of Danish shipping conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk Group will be granted a new concession for the Terminal de Contenedores Quetzal (TCQ). APMT obtained the TCQ concession as part of its acquisition of Spanish port operator Grup Maritim TCB, which was completed in March and included facilities in eight ports with a combined 2 million TEUs in annual throughput.
   The news comes after reports last month that APMT could lose the concession, despite the fact that alleged offences occurred before the company took over the terminal earlier this year.
   Former TCQ director Juan Jose Suarez Meseguer, arrested in April and subsequently removed from his position by APMT, allegedly paid government officials, including former president Otto Molina, his son Gustavo Luna, and vice-president Roxana Baldetti, $24.5 million in bribes to obtain the concession in 2012.
   As part of the new concession, APMT would set up a $6 million x-ray container scanning system in an attempt to assuage fears that a drug cartel has been using the terminal for money laundering and other illegal activities, according to a report in Guatemalan newspaper El Periodico.
   The Guatemalan government took control of the facility in June, but an APMT spokesperson told IHS Fairplay the intervention was not motivated by the reports of the drug cartel using the terminal.
   “It was rather the bribery scandal and the allegation that the usufruct agreement had been obtained through illegal payments,” the spokesperson said. “I can confirm that APM Terminals has agreed to a proposal that would allow the operation of Terminal de Contenedores Quetzal, which includes payment of a reparation, annulment of the usufruct contract, and a new concession contract.”
   “Following the acquisition [of Grup Maritim TCB], APM Terminals learned of alleged misconduct that took place years before by the previous owner,” added APMT vice president Susanne Marston. “APM Terminals is not associated with these actions. However, any allegations of corruption are taken very seriously and the company immediately launched an internal investigation and has fully co-operated with the authorities in their investigation.”
   Marston noted APMT has a global anti-corruption program and that the Guatemalan courts have acknowledged the company did not participate in any of the wrongdoings that are subject to the criminal case.
   “We are committed to taking economic and moral responsibility in this case. Corruption is harmful to society and economic and social development, and therefore we will continue to work closely with the authorities to fight corruption and drug trafficking, so the terminal can operate in a transparent and efficient way,” she said. “Following APM Terminals’ acceptance of the proposal, the company now awaits the position from Guatemala’s government on the proposal.”