GE settles in bribery case
GENERAL Electric will pay $23.4m (£15m) to settle bribery charges over government contracts in Iraq, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said yesterday.
The SEC alleged that the largest US conglomerate, and firms it later bought, paid $3.6m in illegal kickbacks to Iraqi officials from 2000 to 2003, to win contracts funded by the United Nations Oil for Food programme.
GE neither admitted to nor denied the charges in agreeing to the settlement, the SEC said.
“GE failed to maintain adequate internal controls to detect and prevent these illicit payments by its two subsidiaries to win Oil for Food contracts, and it failed to properly record the true nature of the payments in its accounting records,” said Cheryl Scarboro, chief of the SEC’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit.
GE confirmed the SEC’s statement, and added that the US Department of Justice has closed its own separate investigation.
“This conduct did not meet our standards, and we believe that it is in the best interests of GE and its shareholders to resolve this matter now,” GE said in a statement.
Kickbacks included cash, computer equipment and medical supplies.