托福阅读材料之海外高管涉嫌行贿中国官员

Federal prosecutors have presented evidence to a grand jury against U.S. executives of cosmetics company Avon Products, in a case that probes whether those executives broke foreign bribery laws, the Wall Street Journal said.

根据《华尔街日报》的报道，负责调查雅芳行贿事件的联邦检察官已经向大陪审团递交了调查证据，主要调查雅芳美国高管是否有海外行贿。

In 2008, Avon said that it had started an internal investigation into whether it had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars U.S.-linked companies from paying bribes to officials of foreign governments.

2008年，雅芳公司开始了内部调查，重点是公司内部是否有《反海外腐败法》的情况。《反海外腐败法》禁止美国企业向国外政府官员行贿。

U.S. authorities are studying a 2005 internal audit report by the company that concluded Avon employees in China may have been bribing officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Journal said, citing three people familiar with the matter.

《华尔街日报》援引三名内部人士的报道，美国当局在2005年的雅芳内部审计报告中发现，雅芳在中国的雇员有违反《反海外腐败法》向中国政府官员行贿。

The federal authorities are probing whether current or former executives ignored the audit's findings or actively took steps to conceal the problems, both potential offences, the newspaper said.

联邦调查官目前正在调查现任或前任海外高管是否有罔顾审计报告的发现，或是没有积极处理该问题。《华尔街日报》称这两种行为都可能造成犯罪。

"We're not aware that a federal grand jury is investigating this,'' an Avon spokeswoman told the Journal.

雅芳全球发言人称，并不知晓联邦陪审团正在调查此案。

She declined to confirm to the paper whether there had been an audit in 2005 and declined to discuss how executives handled any such audit.

对于报纸关于雅芳2005年审计报告的报道该发言人拒绝证实，也拒绝讨论高管是如何处理此审计报告的。

In January, Avon's former CFO Charles Cramb left the company amidst a probe initiated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

就在一月份，美国证券交易委员会对雅芳海外高管涉嫌行贿事件展开正式调查，公司副董事长兼首席财务官Charles Cramb因此事而遭到解雇。