Trial of Alstom for bribery and corruption allegations in the UK unit
starts in London
The case comes at a tricky time for the French parent,
as it has agreed to a $16.9 billion sale of most of its power business to
U.S. conglomerate General Electric in a deal that gives the French government
an option to become a shareholder.
The trial of a UK subsidiary of Paris-based
Alstom started last week, with the Serious Fraud Office alleging in filings
that the company paid $8.5 million in bribes for contracts in India, Poland,
and Tunisia.
Alstom Network UK was charged in July with six offenses of corruption
and conspiracy to corrupt. The SFO said it paid bribes for work on the
Delhi Metro and tram and infrastructure projects in Warsaw and Tunis between
2000 and 2006.
The British subsidiary of French train and turbine maker Alstom (ALSO.PA)
paid around $8.5 million (£5.27 million) in bribes over a six-year period
to win transport contracts in India, Poland and Tunisia, Britain's leading
fraud prosecutor alleged on Tuesday.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which has been investigating Alstom
for five years as part of an international criminal inquiry into alleged
corruption, said in legal filings published after the first London court
hearing on Tuesday that the Alstom unit disguised corrupt payments as
consultancy agreements.
- Marubeni Corporation, Alstom's consortium partner on the Indonesia
project, pleaded guilty in March this year to one count of conspiracy
to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and seven counts of violating
the FCPA. The Japanese trading company paid a criminal penalty of
$88 million. The SFO's five-year investigation started when the attorney
general of Switzerland provided information about Alstom's UK unit.
- In 2010, the SFO arrested three Alstom UK executives after police
raided offices and residential addresses in London and six other locations.
- In 2008, Swiss police arrested a former Alstom manager and searched
for evidence as part of a corruption and money-laundering investigation.
Offices near Zurich and in Baden were raided, along with homes in
several cantons.
- The Swiss attorney general fined Alstom about $40 million in 2011
for corporate negligence for failing to stop overseas bribery.
Several incidents have shown that it is quite easy to get caught in an
anti-bribery and corruption allegation with severe and dire consequences
for the business and operation. On the other hand, it is a structured
and unpretentious process to establish 'adequate procedures' to combat
bribery and corruption crime and secure and safeguard employees and shareholder
interests.
Copenhagen Compliance is the Scandinavian representative and event partner
for Scandinavian Forum on Anti Corruption. http://www.copenhagencompliance.com/C5-AntiCorruption.pdf
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