HP coughs up $108 million to resolve a US government investigation claiming its Polish and Russian units bribed government officials to obtain lucrative contracts, Reuters reports.
T
he company stands accused of breaking the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law barring US firms from bribing government officials outside the US.
In the Polish case, HP is accused of handing bags of cash and products worth over $600000 to a former National Police agency official in order to win technology contracts worth a total of $39.71 million during 2006-2010.
Reportedly an HP Poland exec named Tomasz Z. (last name withheld in accordance to Polish law) involved with the bribes evaded detection via anonymous email addresses and pre-paid mobile phones.
Meanwhile the Russian allegations date back to 1999, following a $100m project automating the computer and telecom systems of the Office of the Prosecutor General. HP is accused of buying back own products at inflated prices to create a secret slush fund. In turn the funds were used on travel, cars, jewelry, furniture and household appliances.
Bribes were tracked down using two sets of books, with anonymous email addresses and prepaid mobile phones used to arrange meetings.
"The misconduct described in the settlement was limited to a small number of people who are no longer employed by the company," HP admits, before promising to improve on internal controls.
