HP subsidiaries plead guilty in bribery cases
Hewlett-Packard (HP) and three subsidiaries pleaded guilty Thursday to paying bribes to foreign officials in Russia, Mexico and Poland and agreed to pay $108 million in criminal and regulatory penalties.
The guilty pleas, entered in San Francisco federal court, resolved a long-running government investigation and came after the company and the Justice Department reached a plea agreement in April. The giant technology company pleaded guilty to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to a statement from the office of U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag of the Northern District of California.
“Hewlett-Packard subsidiaries, co-conspirators or intermediaries created a slush fund for bribe payments, set up an intricate web of shell companies and bank accounts to launder money, employed two sets of books to track bribe recipients, and used anonymous email accounts and prepaid mobile telephones to arrange covert meetings to hand over bags of cash,” said Justice Department Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz in a statement.
When HP and Justice announced their settlement agreement in April, HP said it had cooperated fully with the government’s investigation and that the misconduct was limited to a small number of people no longer employed with the company.
Source: Usatoday
