Wal-Mart issues statement about bribery investigation

Many of the alleged activities in the New York Times article are more than six years old. If these allegations are true, it is not a reflection of who we are or what we stand for. We are deeply concerned by these allegations and are working aggressively to determine what happened. In the fall of last year, the company through the audit committee of the board of directors began an extensive investigation related to compliance with the FCPA. 

We have met voluntarily with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to self-disclose the ongoing investigation on this matter. We also filed a 10Q in December to inform our shareholders of the investigation. 

The investigation is ongoing and we don't have a full explanation of what happened. It would be inappropriate for us to comment further on the specific allegations until we have finished the investigation. We are working hard to understand what occurred in Bentonville more than six years ago and are committed to conducting a complete investigation before forming conclusions. 

We don't want to speculate or weave stories from incomplete inquiries and limited recollections as others might do. Unfortunately, we realize that at this point there are some unanswered questions. We wish we could say more, but we will not jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. We are confident we are conducting a comprehensive investigation and if violations of our policies occurred here, we will take appropriate action. In a large, global enterprise such as Wal-Mart, sometimes issues arise despite our best efforts and intentions.

 When they do, we take them seriously and act as quickly as possible to understand what happened. We take action and work to implement changes so the issue doesn't happen again. That's what we are doing today. Wal-Mart is committed to doing the right thing and we are working hard everyday to become an even better company."