Jim Beam's strategy to get more Indians to drink their alcohol will make them pay a heavy price in the US market. According to a statement issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Beam Suntory Inc. has agreed to pay roughly $8 million for allegedly bribing government officials for years to make inroads in the South Asian country’s highly regulated liquor business.

The statement further pointed out that from 2006 through 2012 Beam’s Indian subsidiary used third-party sales promoters and distributors to make illicit payments to government employees to increase sales orders, process license and label registrations, and facilitate the distribution of Beam’s distilled spirit products. "The order found that the Indian subsidiary reimbursed the third-parties for the illicit payments through the use of fabricated or inflated invoices, and then falsely recorded the expenses at the subsidiary level. The expenses were then consolidated into Beam’s books and records. The SEC’s order also found that during this period Beam failed to devise and maintain a sufficient system of internal accounting controls," as mentioned in the statement.

According to a Bloomberg report, senior managers at an international Beam unit agreed to pay an Indian official about $18,000 to grease the approval process for a new product back in 2011. The SEC highlighted that the one million rupee payment was equivalent to about a year’s worth of salary for the Indian bureaucrat.

Beam hasn't declined or accepted the charges slapped against them. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Paul W. Sharratt, M. Shahriar Masud, and Sonali Singh of the FCPA Unit and supervised by Robert I. Dodge.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 03, 2018 03:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).