Prosecutors add third executive to Alstom bribery case

A third executive of the U.S. arm of French power and transport engineering company Alstom has been charged with taking part in a scheme to pay bribes in Indonesia, U.S. authorities said on Wednesday.

William Pomponi, a former vice president of sales for the U.S. company, was charged in federal court in Connecticut late on Tuesday, the Justice Department said.

The charges come two weeks after prosecutors charged two other executives of the company - one current and one former - with taking part in the scheme.

Prosecutors accused the executives of bribing a member of Indonesia's parliament and officials of a state-owned electricity company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara, in order to secure a contract related to the Tarahan power project.

The defendants are accused of trying to conceal the payments through two consultants, one who received hundreds of thousands of dollars in a Maryland bank account to pay some of the bribes, prosecutors said.

The Justice Department accused the executives of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law that bars bribes to officials of foreign governments.

A lawyer for Pomponi could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha; editing by John Wallace)