WASHINGTON - Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, said Friday it had settled a criminal investigation into its use of illegal immigrant labour with an 11-million-dollar payment to the US authorities.
The Justice Department agreed to drop its four-year investigation into Wal-Mart and not pursue charges against any of the giant store chain's executives as part of the settlement.
Wal-Mart general counsel Tom Mars reaffirmed the company's position that it was unaware that subcontractors were using illegal immigrants as floor cleaners.
"Today we are acknowledging that our compliance program did not include all the procedures necessary to identify independent floor cleaning contractors who did not comply with federal immigration laws," he said in a statement.
"We will use this as an opportunity to improve and be a better, more tightly run business as a result," Mars said.
In October 2003, Wal-Mart revealed that more than 300 workers in 61 stores around the United States had been arrested for lacking proper immigration papers.
The news further damaged the reputation of a company that has provoked anger among trade unionists for its employment practices and among conservationists for driving smaller stores out of business.
In January Wal-Mart fought back with the launch of a national advertising campaign to counter what it called "urban legends" about its business.
03/18/2005 17:21 GMT