USW Asks Justice Department to Investigate Possible Violations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by Freeport-McMoRan in Indonesia

http://www.usw.org/media_center/news_articles?id=0912

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 2, 2011 
CONTACT: Benjamin Davis (202) 550-3729 

USW Asks Justice Department to Investigate Possible Violations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by Freeport-McMoRan in Indonesia

(Pittsburgh) – The United Steelworkers (USW) requested yesterday that the U.S. Department of Justice immediately begin to investigate whether Freeport-McMoRan has been bribing security forces in Indonesia.

The Indonesian police have recently been quoted in the local media acknowledging that they accepted millions of dollars from Freeport-McMoRan's Indonesian subsidiary PT Freeport to provide security for the miner's operations in Papua, Indonesia. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bans companies from paying foreign officials to do or omit to do an act in violation of his or her lawful duty.

Police personnel providing security for Freeport-McMoRan operations in Papua have recently played a highly controversial role in a strike by some 10,000 miners. This includes firing on strikers during a demonstration on October 10, killing two and injuring eight others.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. (FMCG, NYSE: FCX) is a mining company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona that operates in a number of countries. USW represents some 260 workers at Freeport-McMoRan's Chino mine in New Mexico.

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The USW is the largest industrial union in North America and has 850,000 members in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. It represents workers employed in metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, airlines, atomic energy and the service sector.