Sunday, November 6, 2016

Rolls-Royce facing fresh £10 million corruption claims

Latest: Corruption and Money Laundering.

Rolls-Royce facing fresh £10 million corruption claims.


Aviation manufacturer Rolls-Royce is facing fresh allegations that it used multi-million pound bribes to win contracts.
The firmwas the subject of an investigation by BBC documentary makers, who claim that it put together a team of agents and used bribery to make sure it won key contracts across the world.
Rolls-Royce has so far not made any detailed comment on new allegations made during the show.
However, on being accused of corruption, it has denied any wrong doing, saying that is not the way Rolls-Royce operates.
The British multi-national designs, makes and distributes systems for the aviation and other industries.
A spokesperson for the firm said: “We have made it clear that Rolls-Royce will not tolerate business misconduct or inappropriate behaviour of any kind and in recent years, we have intensified our focus on ethics and compliance, which are foundations of our culture.”
Rolls-Royce has found itself under fire for some time now, having been at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office investigation looking into bribery involving agents in China and Indonesia for the past four years.
The probe was extended five months ago to include ways of working in Nigeria.
The aviation parts manufacturer insists that it is working with authorities in full cooperation and it can comment no further while official investigations are ongoing. It says a lack of further comment is not an admission of wrongdoing.
Allegations in the documentary claim that Rolls-Royce has made payments of £10 million to an agent in India. Claims were also made that the firm made what was described as a “suspicious payment” which could have assisted it in scooping a major contract to build Hawk aircraft engines.
Rolls-Royce is said to have paid millions of pounds to firms with links to Sudhir Choudhrie, who is on a blacklist made up by the Indian government of people who are suspected of “corrupt or irregular practice”. It is illegal in India to pay middlemen in order to win defence contracts.
The inquiry is also looking into Unaoil, a firm which provides energy solutions to the energy sector, over claims of money laundering, and itsongoing relationship with Rolls-Royce.
While the SFO has said that it is conducting what it described as “major investigations” into bribery and corruption claims involving both Rolls-Royce and Unaoil, it said it could not give any further details while its investigations were continuing.

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