Chinese officials involved in Daimler bribery case

Daimler was charged by the US government of offering bribes worth tens of millions of dollars to foreign government officials in at least 22 countries, for contracts between 1998 and 2008.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), China's largest oil refiner, is also involved in the case.
The kickbacks of cash and gifts of luxury armored cars, golf clubs and vacations helped secure government contracts from countries including China, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Iraq, Cote d'Ivoire, Latvia, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
According to the file released by the court, during 2001 to 2005, Daimler Chrysler paid at least 4.1 million euros (37.31 million yuan) in "commissions," "gifts" and lavish vacation to Chinese government officials and in return the car company received contracts worth 112 million euros from Chinese firms.
Many of these payments were made through "third-party accounts" that were supervised by the most senior management of Daimler's sales operations. The file showed that Daimler and Daimler Chrysler China had a bank account named "special commission" with an account number that ended with "819". The money in this account was used to bribe Chinese officials.
The file also showed that during 2001 to 2004, Daimler and Daimler Chrysler China employees offered graft of at least 188,800 euros through the "third-party account" to obtain contracts worth 5.53 million euros.
On February 28, 2002, Daimler offered 18,000 euros in bribes through Texas-based firm Shores International to the wife of a Chinese government official as commission. The money was used in a transaction involving a car worth 1.01 million euros to Sinopec.
Almost a year later on February 21, 2003, Texas-based company Lily Energy Service gave 15,000 euros to Changqing Petroleum Exploration Bureau to sell six trucks worth 492,000 euros each.
Also, the file claimed that Daimler gave about 2.6 million euros to Chinese government officials to ensure receiving contracts worth 71.56 million euros from Sinopec and BGP. The money was given to senior managers of Sinopec and BGP as well as their families.
Daimler admitted previously that it made hundreds of improper payments, but said that the company would cooperate with the investigation.
Sources disclosed that Daimler has reached an agreement with the US government to pay $185 million in fines to end the long-running investigatio

Who to Bribe in China and How Much

Kickback. Carrot. Sweetener. Inducement. Backhander. They’re all synonyms for “bribe.”
Whatever you call it, bribery’s just a normal part of doing business in certain corners of the world. China, for example. For all its pre-Olympics tightening-up, business in China is still fueled by bribery. At least that’s what TRACE International has found. TRACE – a U.S.-based, non-profit association that counsels international companies on bribery – says that 148 reports detailing bribery demands in China were filed through its anonymous reporting system between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008.

How did it break down? Who requested the bribes, what did they request, and how much did they want?

* Major requestors included government officials (38 percent), government employees (14 percent), police, judiciary, and communist party officials (33 percent), with NGO reps, private companies and others taking up the remainder.

* What were they asking for? Cash or its equivalent made up the bulk of the bribery requests (77 percent). Nine percent requested hospitality and/or entertainment. The rest wanted things like “gifts,” “travel,” and “sexual favors.”

* The amount of bribes ranged from $20 to more than $500,000, with most requests coming in between $101 and $10,000.

Bribery

Bribery Act 2010

The Bribery Act reforms the illegal law to offer a new, modern and complete scheme of bribery offences that will enable courts and prosecutors to respond more effectively to bribery at home or abroad.

The Act will:

* provide a more effective legal framework to battle bribery in the public or private sectors

* replace the fragmented and complex offences at common law and in the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889-1916

* create two general offences covering the offering, promising or giving of an advantage, and requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting of an advantage

* create a discrete offence of bribery of a foreign public official

* create a new offence of failure by a commercial organisation to prevent a bribe being paid for or on its behalf (it will be a defence if the organisation has adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery)

* require the Secretary of State to publish guidance about procedures that relevant commercial organisations can put in place to prevent bribery on their behalf

* help tackle the threat that bribery poses to economic progress and development around the world.