Chinese media reports that, according to the United States Department of Justice, the German company Daimler AG has paid tens of million of dollars or given luxury sedans as bribes to officials of at least 22 countries, including China, to secure contracts.
News from the American court is that Daimler was engaged in the misconduct in countries that include China, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, and Iraq from 1998 to 2008 to win contracts in these countries.
So far, Daimler's subsidiaries in Germany and Russia are said to have paid guilty, and Daimler has agreed to pay a fine of USD185 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle criminal and civil investigations.
The Department of Justice has said it won't comment on the issue for now, and a spokesperson of Daimler also said that the company will not say anything about the case until the hearing scheduled on April 1, 2010.
According to United States law, cases of this kind can often be settled before the court hearing with an agreement reached between the violation party and the relevant government department. In December 2009 another German company, Siemens, paid USD1.3 billion to settle the bribery cases in the United States and Germany.
