SQM reports results of corruption investigation

Santiago, Chile — Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) on Dec. 15 reported the results of an investigation conducted by U.S. law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP. The firm had been hired by SQM’s AdHoc Committee, which was appointed by the company’s board on Feb. 26, 2015, to investigate the possible liability for SQM as an issuer of securities in the U.S. market under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The investigation specifically analyzed whether SQM had made any payment defined as corrupt for FCPA purposes, and whether SQM had breached the accounting provisions of the FCPA. The nine-month investigation determined that payments had been authorized by SQM’s former CEO, Patricio Contesse, for which the company did not find sufficient supporting documentation, but no evidence was identified that demonstrates the payments were made to induce a public official to act or refrain from acting to assist SQM in obtaining economic benefits. In addition, the investigation concluded that SQM’s books did not accurately reflect transactions that have been questioned, and SQM’s internal controls were not sufficient to supervise the expenses made by the cost center managed by Contesse. SQM said its management was fully cooperative and transparent throughout the investigation, during which roughly 930,000 documents were reviewed and 24 individual interviews were conducted. SQM said it has taken and will continue to take the proper measures to strengthen its corporate governance and internal controls in order to correct the issues identified in the report. To date, these measure include the dismissal of Contesse as CEO; filing corrected tax returns with the Chilean Internal Revenue Service; creating SQM’s Corporate Governance Committee; strengthening the responsibilities of the company’s Internal Audit and Compliance departments; hiring auditing firm KPMG to review SQM’s payment process controls, and improving the payment process controls and approvals; and reformulating SQM’s code of ethics.