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Lawsuit Seeks Over $1 Billion From Alcoa

Federal lawsuit claims the American aluminum maker overcharged an aluminum company in Bahrain by bribing the company's former officials and the Bahraini government.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Alcoa Inc. overcharged an aluminum company based in Bahrain by bribing former officials of that company and the Bahraini government, according to a federal lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion from the giant American aluminum maker.

Attorneys for Aluminum Bahrain BSC filed the 34-page suit late Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Pittsburgh, where Alcoa has corporate offices.

''We have not had a chance to review the allegations, so it is difficult to comment on them,'' Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery told The Associated Press on Thursday. ''But we are completely unaware of absolutely any wrongdoing by any of our employees or by the company.''

The lawsuit says Alcoa used shell companies to transmit the bribes and exact ''hundreds of millions of dollars'' in overpayments from the Bahrain company in a ''massive, outrageous fraud.''

''Through their conspiracy, defendants bribed one or more former senior officials of plaintiff (Aluminum Bahrain) and the government of Bahrain to induce plaintiff to cede a controlling interest in that company to defendant Alcoa and to overpay for alumina,'' the suit said. ''The bribes were sent through a series of shell companies that defendants ultimately controlled.''

Alumina is a precursor ingredient used to make aluminum.

The suit indicates financial records show the Bahrain firm, also known as Alba, paid more billions for alumina to various smaller companies allegedly affiliated with Alcoa in Singapore, Switzerland and the Isle of Guernsey, with some of the money kicked back to officials who OK'd the contracts.

Alcoa, once the world's largest supplier of aluminum, remains one of the largest metals companies in the world, reporting in excess of $30 billion in annual sales.

The suit also targets Alcoa World Alumina LLC and two men who acted on behalf of that company and Alcoa.
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