Bribery charges
April 1, 2010
German automaker Daimler will appear in court on Thursday in Washington to settle a long-standing bribery case. The auto giant is accused of giving cash kick-backs and extravagant gifts to foreign officials in at least 22 countries in order to secure lucrative contracts.
Daimler, the producer of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars and the world's biggest truck maker, is set to pay about 137 million euros ($185 million) to settle the case and avoid criminal charges in the longstanding US probe.
Among other charges, Daimler is accused of giving an official in the authoritarian government of Turkmenistan a "birthday gift" of an armored Mercedes Benz S-class car worth about 220,000 euros.
The German newsmagazine Spiegel reported on Monday that Daimler ignored an auditor's warnings that its accounts were suspicious.
Whistleblower fired
News of Daimler's long-standing habit of bribing high-ranking officials first made headlines when a former employee filed a complaint stating he'd been sacked after voicing concern about the secret accounts maintained to pay the bribes.
As part of internal changes, the carmaker has terminated about 45 employees around the world, according to court documents.
The 137 million euro settlement is significantly less than the 593 million euros paid by the German engineering group Siemens to settle US bribery charges in 2008.
smh/dpa/AFP
Editor: Rob Turner