On March 6, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleging that in 2002 Charles M. Martin, then Monsanto Co."s ”Government Affairs Director for Asia, authorized and directed an Indonesian consulting firm to pay a bribe totaling $50,000 to a senior Indonesian Ministry of Environment official.” The payment, the filing said, ”was made to influence the Senior Environment Official to repeal language in a decree that was unfavorable to Monsanto"s business in Indonesia.”