Grand Jury Probing Spending at Wal-Mart

A federal grand jury is reviewing allegations of misspending within Wal-Mart Stores Inc., an investigation the world’s largest retailer spurred when it handed over internal documents to the Justice Department, a company spokesman said Friday.

Wal-Mart spokesman Marty Heires said the company was restricted on what it could say about the inquiry because it was being handled by a grand jury. “We have committed fully to cooperate with the federal authorities, and we’re doing that.”

At the center of the probe is an allegation that former Vice Chairman Tom Coughlin, who was the No. 2 Wal-Mart executive before retiring last year, misspent up to $500,000, some of it allegedly for anti-union activity.

Coughlin, through his attorney, has denied wrongdoing.

Neither the U.S. attorney’s office in Fort Smith, Ark., nor Coughlin’s attorney, William Taylor of Washington, would discuss the investigation.

Wal-Mart, which is based in Bentonville, Ark., has strongly denied anti-union spending.

Coughlin was on Wal-Mart’s board until March 25, when he resigned just as the company revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had forwarded to federal prosecutors information on alleged improper spending.

Last week, in another filing, Wal-Mart disclosed that it had suspended Coughlin’s benefits, potentially costing him $9.8 million in stock options.

Heires declined to say whether documents or Wal-Mart employees had been subpoenaed by the grand jury. He also said he did not know how long the grand jury had been reviewing the Wal-Mart allegations.