"As British American Tobacco celebrates another year of deadly profits, groups around globe call for government action on bribery, espionage"

...[As] British American Tobacco (BAT) held its annual general meeting (AGM), groups on three continents campaigned to demand it be held accountable for recent allegations of bribery and espionage across Africa...“While BAT’s executives and shareholders toasted to deadly profits and generations of addiction, people around the world gathered to demand the corporation is held accountable for its abuses,” said Cloe Franko, Senior Organizer at Corporate Accountability International. “With BAT already under investigation in Kenya for bribery and authorities in the U.K and U.S. considering investigations, shareholders should be nervous about their investment.”...

“In Kenya, likely because of BAT, it took us 15 years to pass and implement our tobacco control law—think of the lives that have been taken in that time!” said Samuel Ochieng, Director of Consumer Information Network in Kenya. “Now that we have irrefutable evidence of bribery,” he added, “we will be proud when Kenya is the first country to investigate BAT and hold it accountable.”..Among the revelations was at least one bribe to a government representative from Burundi to represent BAT’s interests at a World Health Organization global tobacco treaty meeting. There were multiple bribes to politicians and policymakers to gain access to and obstruct tobacco control policymaking. The bribes ranged from $3,000 to $20,000 and some were even sanctioned by a regional executive.