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US label maker admitted paying bribes in China

By Song Wei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-10 15:00

US label maker Avery Dennison paid bribes to research institutions and other authorities in China to win business contracts, Lu Kaixin, a manager from the communications department of the company's Asia Pacific Group, admitted last Tuesday, according to the Chongqing Evening News.

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Later that day, in a press release the company's spokesman David Frail said that Avery Dennison recently discovered that a handful of employees were involved in the incidents, but that the company had disciplined them and reported the incidents to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Justice Department, according to Los Angeles Times.

The bribes reportedly included gifts, kickbacks, and sightseeing trips, the American Securities and Exchange Commission said. The company agreed to pay a US$200,000 fine over the incidents.

In 2007, a subsidiary of Avery Dennison also paid $51,000 in bribes to officials in China and several other countries, the SEC said.