香港证监会申请冻结洪良国际IPO资金
DAIMLER PAYS $185M TO SETTLE BRIBERY CASE
A US court gave the green light on Thursday for Daimler to pay $185m in penalties as part of a deal to settle bribery charges brought by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission against the German car and truck maker.
The deal, first disclosed last week, also includes guilty pleas by Daimler's German and Russian units to two counts of violating US anti-bribery laws. The Justice Department has agreed not to prosecute the carmaker's Chinese subsidiary subject to fulfilment of various conditions.
Daimler has agreed to the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee compliance with the deal.
The settlement marks the culmination of one of the most extensive anti-bribery cases brought by the US authorities against a foreign company, and is a further example of an intensifying drive by Washington to enforce anti-bribery provisions in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Daimler investigation began in late 2004.
In the complaint filed last week, the Justice Department attributed Daimler's “long-standing violations” of bribery rules to a lack of central oversight over foreign operations, a “corporate culture that tolerated and/or encouraged bribery” and the involvement of high-ranking executives, including the heads of its overseas sales division, its internal audit office and several subsidiaries and affiliates.
The SEC said in a statement that the carmaker “engaged in a repeated and systematic practice of paying bribes to foreign government officials to secure business in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East”.
Daimler allegedly paid at least $56m in bribes over more than a decade covering more than 200 transactions in at least 22 countries. Among others, it paid kickbacks to Iraqi ministries to secure sales of motor vehicles and spare parts under the United Nations Oil for Food Programme.
The SEC said that it had also made “tens of millions of dollars in corrupt payments” to government officials in Russia, China, Vietnam, Hungary, Latvia, Croatia and Bosnia.
The settlement includes $91.4m in disgorgement to settle the SEC's charges and $93.6m in fines to settle charges in criminal proceedings.
Dieter Zetsche, Daimler's chairman, said on Thursday that “compliance has high priority at Daimler. We have learnt a lot from past experience. Today, we are a better and stronger company, and we will continue to do everything we can to maintain the highest compliance standards”.
Daimler dismissed about 45 employees and disciplined another 300 in the course of the bribery investigation. It has already put numerous internal measures in place to improve corporate governance, including the appointment of local compliance officers.
美国一家法院周四同意德国汽车制造商戴姆勒(Daimler)支付1.85亿美元罚款，了结美国司法部和证券交易委员会(SEC)对其提出的行贿指控。
支付罚款是戴姆勒了结指控的整体方案的一部分，方案上周就已公布。根据该方案，戴姆勒德国及俄罗斯分公司承认违反了美国反行贿法。在满足了多项条件的前提下，美国司法部同意不起诉戴姆勒中国分公司。
戴姆勒还同意任命一名独立监察员，监督了结方案的履行情况。
至此，美国当局针对外国企业最大规模的反行贿案件之一宣告结束。这也是美国加强《反海外腐败法》中反行贿规定执法力度的又一个案例。针对戴姆勒的调查始于2004年后期。
在上周递交的起诉书中，美国司法部把戴姆勒“长期违反”有关行贿条例的原因归结为：总部缺乏对海外业务的监督、“容忍和/或鼓励行贿的企业文化”，以及高层主管参与行贿，其中包括海外销售业务主管、内部审计部门主管和一些附属及关联公司的负责人。
美国证交会在一份声明中称，戴姆勒“为了获得在亚洲、非洲、东欧和中东等地的业务，多次、系统性地向外国政府官员行贿”。
据称，十余年间，戴姆勒在至少22个国家总共行贿至少5600万美元，涉及200多宗交易。其中，戴姆勒向伊拉克一些政府部门提供回扣，以获准在“联合国石油换食品计划”下销售汽车及配件。
证交会表示，戴姆勒还向俄罗斯、中国、越南、匈牙利、拉脱维亚、克罗地亚和波斯尼亚等国的政府官员“支付数亿美元腐败费用”。
戴姆勒用于了结指控的费用包括：9140万美元用于了结证交会的指控， 9360万美元用于了结刑事程序中的指控。
戴姆勒首席执行官迪特尔•泽谢(Dieter Zetsche)周四表示：“戴姆勒非常注重遵纪守法。我们从以往经历中学到了很多东西。如今，我们已经成长为一家更优秀、更健全的企业。今后我们将继续竭尽全力维持最高的守法标准。”
在接受行贿调查期间，戴姆勒解雇了大约45名员工，对另外300名员工进行了处罚。该公司还实施了多项内控措施，旨在改善公司治理，包括任命当地合规主管。
译者/杨远
沒有留言:
張貼留言