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Like something straight out of a Hollywood script, Hewlett Packard may be involved with some corrupt Russian officials. Or maybe not, but either way, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to find out.
Earlier this week, HP admitted its Moscow offices had been raided. U.S. authorities have since gotten involved in what is reportedly a bribery investigation.
"HP has been in communication with the SEC and will continue to fully cooperate with the authorities investigating this matter," a company spokeswoman said.
At issue is the sale of some $47.8 million worth of computer systems to the office of Russia's prosecutor general, who also happens to be the one that investigates corruption cases in his country. Talk about a twist of irony if, as reports suggest, HP is found guilty of paying almost $11 million in bribe money to land the contract.
"This is an investigation of alleged conduct that occurred almost seven years ago, largely by employees no longer with HP. We are cooperating fully with the German and Russian authorities and will continue to conduct our own internal investigation," the HP spokeswoman said via e-mail on Wednesday.
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violian
April 16, 2010 at 10:38am
I don't know how Russia operates, but in some countries, bribery is an everyday fact of life. My professor is from Italy, and that's all he talks about. For instance, small business owners in Southern Italy always has to pay bribe-taxes in order to stay in business or else they'd lose their business license. Or SE Asia for instance, if you don't have bribe money, forget about going to get help at any public services departments.
JohnP
April 16, 2010 at 12:09pm
India, China, Russia are the same way. A funny story published about bribery in India vs China was when one offical said "yes, but in China, you only have to bribe once."
