Alstom looks other way in bribery defense

  • 2011-11-30
  • From wire reports

RIGA - French transport and energy corporation Alstom has been ordered to pay 31 million euros by Switzerland’s attorney-general for negligently failing to stop systematic bribery by some employees in Latvia, Malaysia and Tunisia, reports The Financial Times. According to the Swiss attorney’s ruling, part of the fine is due to bribes provided to former Latvenergo President Karlis Mikelsons, former vice-president Aigars Melko and former technical director Gunars Cvetkovs so the French company could win contracts for the modernization of the Plavinas electric power plant.
The Swiss attorney’s office found Alstom to have used “consultants who used some of the money for illegal purposes, whether to influence the award of contracts or to pay kickbacks to employees.”

The probe is part of a growing mosaic of corruption investigations of European industrial groups, including one that resulted in 1 billion euros in fines being handed out to the German corporation Siemens.
The Swiss Office of the Attorney-General said a two-year investigation had not found criminal wrongdoing by the French company and a Swiss affiliate, which “as far as can be ascertained” did not know about the bribes. But it accused Alstom of “failing to meet the standards for an international group employing over 75,000 people,” sanctioning the group for “corporate negligence.”

The Swiss authority also looked at alleged wrongdoing in 12 other countries but did not find compelling evidence.
In a statement, Alstom said it had “constantly stated that the company had never organized, authorized or allowed any act of bribery or any breach of regulations and existing laws.”

According to the Swiss authority’s conclusions, the bribes for Mikelsons, Melko and Cvetkovs were paid via Energy Consulting owner Andrejs Livanovics, who before that had represented Alstom Power in the Baltic countries.
Alstom transferred a total of 896,932 euros to Livanovics for two Plavinas power plant reconstruction projects, of which Livanovics kept 14 percent, whereas 70 percent was paid to the three then-Latvenergo officials.