The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is preparing to penalise French transport and engineering company Alstom with bribery as part of a corruption probe.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch and agencies
French newspaper Le Monde reported on Friday that Alstom was suspected by Swiss authorities “to have paid, between 2003 and 2010, tens of millions of euros in bribes and kickbacks to public and foreign officials”.
The paper, which did not cite its sources, said the prosecutor’s office was “on the point” of issuing a conviction against Alstom Network Schweiz, the company’s Swiss subsidiary based in Baden in north-east Switzerland.
A spokesman for Alstom denied the allegations of corruption but refused to comment on the possibility of charges being laid by Swiss authorities.
“We absolutely contest [that there has been] a generalised system of corruption,” the spokesman said.
For several years, Swiss authorities have been investigating allegations that Alstom funnelled bribes worth SFr70 million ($76.8 million) a year through its Swiss subsidiary and hid the payments as consultancy fees.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Alstom bosses held on bribe charges
This content was published on
The British Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which announced the arrests on Wednesday, has been working closely with the Swiss federal police. The SFO said in a statement it suspected bribes were paid in order to win contracts overseas and that this had involved associated money laundering and other offences. The three men arrested, who are…
This content was published on
In a statement, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said one person had been arrested, “strongly suspected” of abuse of administrative duties, corruption and money laundering. Swiss officials were acting on a request from their counterparts in France, and several French police officers took part in the raids. The premises searched included homes of individuals associated with…
This content was published on
Eight years after Holenweger was first arrested on charges of laundering money for South American drug cartels, the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona on Thursday cleared him of all charges, which also included bribery, falsifying documents and mismanaging client assets. The Bellinzona court awarded Holenweger SFr420,000 ($476,730) in compensation. Prosecutors said during the trial that…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.