French aerospace firm Safran SA is to pay about US$17.2 million as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice over bribes allegedly paid in China by its subsidiaries before they were acquired by the jet engine maker, US media reported on Friday.
Safran would have to return the profits from the “corruptly obtained” contracts, but would not be prosecuted, according to a letter from the justice department cited by the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
The charges relate to alleged bribes taken by two of the French company’s subsidiaries, Monogram Systems, and its German unit, Evac GmbH, before they were acquired by Safran.
Photo: Reuters
The bribes were allegedly paid to obtain train lavatory contracts with the Chinese government from 1999 to 2015 with the involvement of a China-based consultant who was closely linked to a senior government official at the time, the newspaper reported.
Prosecutors also said Safran cooperated with the investigation and that the misconduct had ended before the group’s takeover.
Safran did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Photo: REUTERS
Evac, a leading supplier of train lavatory systems, was in June last year sold to Knorr-Bremse, a German manufacturer of brakes and other rail parts.
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