Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz, agreed yesterday to pay $185 million (123 million) to settle allegations in America that the company paid bribes in 22 countries to win government business.
Among other charges, the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the German carmaker and three subsidiaries of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans improper payments to officials of other countries.
The settlement has to be approved by the US District Court in Washington at a hearing set for April 1. Daimler declined to comment before the hearing.
According to a Department of Justice court filing, Daimler paid millions of dollars in bribes to government officials in countries including Croatia, Latvia, Russia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey between 1998 and 2008 to win lucrative government contracts.
Related LinksDaimler skips payout after €2.6bn lossDaimler makes €1.28bn loss on Mercedes slumpIn one example, it was claimed that Daimler gave an official an armoured Mercedes for his birthday at a time when it was in talks to sell almost 200 vehicles to the Turkmenistan Government.
In some cases, Daimler wired ... improper payments to bank accounts or to the foreign bank accounts of US shell companies in order to transmit the bribe, the court filing said.
American officials, who claim that Daimler made $50 million in US-related corrupt transactions alone, have been investigating since David Bazzetta, a former auditor at Daimler, turned whistleblower in 2004. He claimed that he was dismissed after raising concerns about secret bank accounts that were used to pay foreign officials.
Daimler is expected to avoid any admission of wrongdoing.
No comments:
Post a Comment