Alstom UK directors arrested in bribery investigation
24 Mar 2010
London – Three members of the board of ALSTOM in the UK have been arrested on suspicion of bribery and corruption, conspiracy to pay bribes, money laundering and false accounting, and have been taken to police stations to be interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office.
The arrests followed police raids on ALSTOM business premises and directors’ homes in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and London. The operation, code-named Operation Ruthenium, involved 109 SFO staff and 44 police officers and special financial investigators from and the Metropolitan Police Service.
ALSTOM group companies in the UK are suspected to have paid bribes to win contracts overseas, and to have been involved in associated money laundering and other offences.
The SFO said it has been working closely with the Office of the Attorney General and Federal Police in Switzerland and a number of Police Forces in the UK.
SFO director Richard Alderman said, “We are working closely with other criminal justice organisations across the world and are taking steps to encourage companies to report any suspicions of corruption, either within their own business or by other companies or individuals”
A statement on Alstom’s website confirmed that its offices in the UK had been raided on 24 March by police officers and some of its local managers are being questioned. Alstom, it added, is cooperating with the British authorities.
“The police apparently executed search warrants upon the request of the Swiss Federal justice. Alstom has been investigated by the Swiss justice for more than 3 years on the motive of alleged bribery issues. Within this frame, Alstom’s offices in Switzerland and France have already been searched in the past years, said the company statement.
