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Hewlett-Packard charged with bribing Russian officials
Published: 15 April, 2010, 21:23
Edited: 11 September, 2010, 02:37
TAGS: Crime, Scandal, Russia, Prime Time Russia, Finance
Russian police raided the Moscow office of Hewlett-Packard looking for documents that might shed light on a corruption case brought by German prosecutors.
Hewlett-Packard employers are suspected of paying €8 million in bribes to Russia’s Prosecutor’s Office in order to secure a €35 million deal signed in 2003. As a result, Hewlett-Packard has been supplying the Prosecutor’s Office with computers and other bits of hardware and software via its German subsidiary.
German prosecutors became suspicious 7 years ago when they discovered a small company in eastern Germany and uncovered several suspicious money transfer. They later managed to find a whole network of international money transfers from Hewlett-Packard offices in Germany that led to Moscow.
Three former HP employees were arrested in Germany and Switzerland last December and then released on bail. In total, 9 former Hewlett-Packard employees are charged with crimes including tax evasion, bribing foreign officials and breach of contract and trust.
On April 1, in a similar case, German car-maker giant Daimler pleaded guilty to US charges that its subsidiary bribed Russian officials in order to secure a deal and agreed to pay a fine of more than $27 million.
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Well, which would be a better by-line? "Hewlett-Packard charged with bribing Russian officials", or would it be best if " Russian Officials charged with accepting bribes from HP"? But, I suppose no one in the Russian Prosecutor's office has been charged with accepting bribes. It takes a small company in Germany to discover the bribes, while internal Russian official know nothing of what occurred. Did Russian police raid the Prosecutor’s Office too? They should have raided both.
Aren't they all the same people? Who polices the police? This anti-corruption struggle in Russia is going to be a long, drawn out effort. Good luck to President Medvedev and I hope he sticks to it.