ABB Discovers Bribery at (Texas) Software Unit

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=8221394

ZURICH (Reuters) - U.S.-based employees of a unit of engineer ABB bribed officials in Latin America and the Middle East with about $560,000 to win contracts, the group said on Tuesday, adding that this seemed to be an isolated case.

The suspect payments were discovered during an internal investigation after the dismissal of two managers at Texas-based ABB network management, a software subsidiary that employs around 150 people, ABB said.

"According to our findings these were bribery attempts to receive projects," an ABB spokesman said. "We believe that the matter involved only a few people," he added.

<snip>

In another bribery case last year, two affiliates of ABB pleaded guilty in the United States to criminal charges of bribing African and Asian government officials to secure contracts between 1998 and 2003.

...more...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. It's a byproduct of democracy, and we're spreading it everywhere. eom.

[cornermouse]

2. Hey, no problem.

Change a law here. Replace a head of investigative/oversight department there. No Problem!

[radfringe]

3. "We believe that the matter involved only a few people,"

ummmmmmmmmmmm...now where have I heard that one before????

[ret5hd]

4. the real question is...

why did this come out? it was an internal investigation, wasn't it? so why didn't it stay internal?

2 guesses:

1) there was an external investigation that initially found this, and this external group gave ABB a chance to do "damage control" - cleaning up paper trails, etc.

2) oops...we bribed the wrong people! (from a u.s. perspective)

so, who would have been investigaqting a company like this to begin with? SEC? are they public? law enforcement?

or, who did they bribe, and who should they have bribed?

[salin]

5. Remember who used to be on the ABB board? Rumsfeld

Recall the following story:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1563.htm

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/articles/0,15114,447429,00.html

Note also that nuc energy, I believe, always produces materials that are useful for nuc weapon tech.... Handing this to North Korea, in 2000 when the "threat" of NK developing nukes was already well known... was pure greed over national interests/loyalty.

[rainbow4321]

9. More on Rummy and N Korea/ABB

WHY is it that whenever a corrupt company scandal is reported and you do a google for that company name and chimp's/the regime's name, there is ALWAYS a connection?



http://www.atsnn.com/story/80928.html

Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, sat on the board of ABB Combustion Engineering from 1990 through 2000. During seven of these ten years, ABB aggressively sought to secure a contract with North Korea to build nuclear reactors. During this same period of time, in a blatant conflict of interest, Donald Rumsfeld headed the Rumsfeld Commission which looked into the growing ballistic missile threat.


In 1993, ABB entered bids to build two nuclear reactors in Yonggwang-kun, a southern province in North Korea. In 1996, the U.S. Department of Energy approved ABB-CE to participate in the construction of two "light-water" nuclear reactors in North Korea. In 1997, the first three contracts between ABB and North Korea were signed. These involved technology agreements, and the "design and manufacture of advanced pressurized water reactor systems technology".


In February, 2003, the Swiss news agency Swissinfo reported on this conflict of interest. Wolfram Eberhardt, spokesman for ABB, informed Swissinfo that Rumsfeld had been present at "nearly all the board meetings" during his tenure on ABB's Board of Directors. But would not confirm nor deny that the seven years of negotiations, contracts and work with North Korea on nuclear reactors had ever "been before the board".

In May of 2003, the Guardian wrote an article on Mr. Rumsfeld's former position on ABB's board. When Rumsfeld's office was asked about his knowledge of the contract signed in 2000 between ABB and North Korea, his spokesperson stated: quote:
...the defence secretary did not "recall it being brought before the board at any time".

[cosmicdot]

11. thank you for remembering ... and posting it ...

:thumbsup:

[One_Life_To_Give]

6. Is Bribery "Customary" in these locals?

In some parts of the world, there are additional costs of doing buisiness. Were these "expenses" reasonable and customary?

[rainbow4321]

10. Discovered during Halliburton/Nigeria investigation...

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2004/07012004/july-aug04names.html

From 2004:

Two subsidiaries of the Swiss giant ABB Ltd. pled guilty in July to criminal violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Each company was fined $5.25 million. A French judge investigating a parallel bribery scandal in Nigeria involving a unit of the Houston-based Halliburton has drawn international media attention to the failure of the U.S. officials to aggressively enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The charges against ABB might be the opening shot in a new round of criminal prosecutions under the law


Federal officials charged that ABB subsidiaries based in Houston and Aberdeen, Scotland paid bribes to officials of NAPIMS, a Nigerian government agency that evaluates and approves potential bidders for contract work on oil exploration projects in Nigeria.

Federal officials alleged that the companies paid more than $1 million in exchange for obtaining confidential bid information and favorable recommendations from Nigerian government agencies in connection with seven oil and gas construction contracts in Nigeria from which the companies expected to realize profits of almost $12 million.

In a separate action, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the parent company, ABB Ltd, alleging violations of anti-bribery, books and records, and internal control provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, arising from suspected illegal payments in Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Angola.

[woodsprite]

7. It appears everything is bigger in Texas...

including the lies and corruption. I'm not surprised reading that, but does Neil Bush have anything to do with ABB?

[elehhhhna]

8. "an isolated case" but it happens every year. Hmmm.