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JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): With more than 2,000 stores throughout the country, Mexico is an important foreign market for Wal-Mart. But a New York Times investigation has raised troubling questions over Wal-Mart's dominance there and how it came to be.
Among some of the findings: Former executives for the company orchestrated a campaign of bribery to obtain construction permits and build stores more quickly during the past decade, a paper trail of bribery documenting payments of more than $24 million, and top executives of the company seemed to shut down an internal investigation until recently.
Wal-Mart is now conducting an inquiry into whether employees may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That's a federal law that makes it a crime for American companies to bribe foreign officials.
Bloomberg News also reports the company is the subject of a criminal probe by the U.S. Justice Department.
We look more closely at the law and potential violations with Joseph Hoffmann. He's a professor of law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law.
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