The U.S. Justice Department said John W. Warwick, 64, of Virginia Beach, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Richmond to a one-count indictment of conspiring to make corrupt payments to foreign government officials to secure business for Ports Engineering Consultants Corp. (PECC) in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Incorporated under the laws of Panama, PECC was affiliated with a Virginia Beach-based engineering firm. According to the indictment, PECC was created so that Warwick, co-conspirator Charles Jumet, the engineering firm, and others could corruptly obtain maritime contracts from the Panamanian government.
According to court documents, Warwick and Jumet participated in a conspiracy to secretly pay money to Panamanian government officials for awarding contracts to PECC. In December 1997, the Panamanian government awarded PECC a no-bid, 20-year concession to maintain lighthouses and buoys along Panama's waterway. Upon receipt of the concession, Warwick, Jumet and others authorized corrupt payments be made to the Panamanian government officials.
In connection with his guilty plea, Warwick admitted that at least from 1997 through about July 2003, he, Jumet and others paid more than $200,000 to the former administrator and deputy administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority and to a former, high-ranking elected executive official of the Republic of Panama.
As part of his plea agreement, Warwick has agreed to forfeit $331,000, which represents the proceeds of this crime. At sentencing, scheduled for May 14, Warwick faces up to five years in prison and a fine of more than $250,000 or twice the gain or loss.
Jumet pleaded guilty on Nov. 13, 2009, to a two-count criminal information charging him with conspiring to make corrupt payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of securing business for PECC, in violation of the FCPA, and making a false statement. Jumet is to be sentenced on March 26.
