BELLINZONA, Switzerland (AP) - Swiss prosecutors are investigating suspicious payments totaling more than 500 million Swiss francs ($430 million) as part of a corruption and money laundering probe linked to the French engineering company Alstom SA, according to court documents released Tuesday.
Prosecutors allege that Alstom funneled bribes worth 70 million francs ($60 million) a year through its Swiss subsidiary, hiding the payments as "consultancy fees,'' the documents released by the Federal Criminal Court said.
Swiss police searched premises linked to Alstom in August and arrested one individual, who is suspected of corruption and money laundering. The raids across Switzerland included offices belonging to subsidiary Alstom Prom AG in Baden, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Zurich.
The arrested individual was a former compliance manager of the Alstom Group, who also was a member of the management of Alstom Prom. Authorities declined to identify the manager. He was released on Oct. 10 because prosecutors said there was no danger he would suppress evidence in the case.
Prosecutors suspect that Alstom used Alstom Prom to make payments to foreign officials in order to win international contracts for the French group.
The transactions under investigation go back to the year 2000 and were recorded as "consultancy fees'' worth more than 500 million francs ($430 million), according to the documents.
Alstom officials in Paris had no immediate comment.
Prosecutors said they regard a large share of these transactions as suspicious because numerous consultants did not provide any services for Alstom. Instead, their bank accounts were used to transfer payments to third parties.
Prosecutors said that in some cases there was proof that money was paid to foreign officials, including for projects in Italy, Zambia and Mexico.
They allege that between January 2001 and April 2003, bribes of around 1 million euros ($1.25 million) were sent via different offshore companies to an official in Zambia.
Prosecutors also said two Swiss companies had billed Alstom for more than 10 million francs ($8.6 million) and 300,000 euros ($374,000) respectively. The sums were allegedly used to pay cash bribes.
The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona approved a request by one company that prosecutors have to share copies of the documents they seized.
Alstom, a maker of high-speed trains and power stations, was saved from bankruptcy in 2004 when French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was finance minister then, organized a state bailout for the ailing firm.
A related French inquiry was opened in November 2007, following a tip received by Swiss authorities.-AP
Source:http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/28/apworld/20081028215029&sec=apworld
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Swiss probe $430 million payments in Alstom case
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