Alstom paid bribes to win Delhi Metro contract, finds UK probe

The British subsidiary of French train and turbine maker Alstom paid around $8.5 million in bribes over a six-year period to win transport contracts in India, Poland and Tunisia, Britain's Serious Frauds Office (SFO) alleged on Tuesday.

Alstom Network UK, which was charged with six offences of corruption and conspiracy to corrupt, in July, allegedly paid bribes to win train infrastructure orders for the Delhi Metro between 2000 and 2006. It also paid bribes for tram and infrastructure deals in Warsaw and Tunis in the same period.

The case comes at a tricky time for the French parent, which has agreed a $16.9 billion sale of most of its power business to US conglomerate General Electric (GE) in a deal that gives the French government an option to become a shareholder.

The SFO, which has been investigating Alstom for five years as part of an international criminal inquiry into alleged corruption, said in legal filings published after the first London court hearing on Tuesday stated that the Alstom unit had disguised corrupt payments as consultancy agreements.

These agreements were struck by Alstom Network UK, certain directors and others with Indo European Ventures Pte Ltd and Global King Technology Ltd in India, Sagax Engineering Limited and Kavan BV in Poland and Construction et Gestion NEVCO in Tunisia, the SFO alleged in the document.

Alstom stressed that the charges related to past misconduct. "The company has been in communication with the SFO and seeks no more than a fair and appropriate resolution of the allegations made," a spokesperson said in Paris.

If convicted, Alstom Network UK faces fines or a ban from competing for public contracts in the European Union. Its next court hearing at the higher Southwark Crown Court is scheduled for 6 October.

The British investigation was initiated after information from the Swiss attorney general, which ordered Alstom to pay 38.5 million Swiss francs ($41 million dollars) for corporate negligence in 2011 because it had failed to stop bribery.

Three executives of Alstom's US unit in Connecticut have since pleaded guilty and admitted paying bribes on behalf of the company.

Four years ago, the SFO arrested three UK board members over allegations of bribery, money laundering and false accounting.

Siemens Ag, Alstom's German rival, paid about $1.6 billion in 2008 to settle US and German allegations that it used bribery for years to win contracts.