[Corp. Watch] Yet another hidden corporate crime: Bribery

[Corporation Watch]

Chrysler Whistleblower's Tip Brings U.S. Charges of Global Bribery

 By Justin Hyde

(Detroit Free Press, March 23) – Nine years ago, Chrysler auditor
David Bazzetta was shocked to hear from DaimlerChrysler
executives in Germany that the company regularly bribed foreign 
governments for business -- even though they knew it violated U.S.
law.

	That whistle Bazzetta blew will finally be answered next week,
when Daimler appears in a U.S. federal court in Washington on
charges it spent hundreds of millions of dollars on payoffs to 
officials in 22 countries between 1998 and 2008. Several outlets
reported that the company will pay $185 million to settle the charges,
but the company and the U.S. Department of Justice declined comment.

	So too did Bazzetta, 54, whose 2004 lawsuit first revealed the
secret accounting system Daimler ran to pay off officials from Greece
to North Korea, and included kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's
government under the United Nations' "oil-for-food" program.

	According to his lawsuit, Bazzetta, an 18-year veteran of
Chrysler, warned about the payments to his boss. When he told
Bazzetta to keep quiet, Bazzetta went over his head. When nothing
was done, he was transferred, and eventually fired in January 2004,
two weeks after his corporate protector retired.

	At the time, DaimlerChrysler was trying to recover the aura that
surrounded its creation, washed away by Chrysler's struggles and
anger in the United States that the "merger of equals" had given way
to a German takeover of Chrysler. The Justice Department said today
that all told, Daimler's bribes generated at least $50 million in pre-tax
profits.

	At the time of its 1997 purchase of Chrysler, Daimler had 200
accounts used for bribes around  the world. By 2004, it had winnowed
such accounts to 40, but the Justice complaint says the company only
eliminated the practice after the launch of probes by U.S. officials.

The kickbacks weren't just handed over in cash. Daimler paid for tourist
trips for Chinese officials, and gave the son of a Chinese government
official an internship, a four-month job and help getting him and his
girlfriend German student visas.

	The company also gave an armored Mercedes sedan worth
$350,000 to a Liberian government official in 1999, and sent another 
worth $400,000 to a high-ranking official in the Turkmenistan
government in 2003, likely late president-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov.

	Daimler's distributor also tried to get in Niyazov's personal graces
by spending $250,000 on translating 10,000 copies of his personal 
manifesto from Turkmen into German, which were delivered to
Niyazov in a golden box. Daimler eventually sold 879 vehicles in the
country from 2000 to 2008.

	Bazzetta's lawsuit sparked a probe in 2004 by U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission officials. The payments fell under the U.S.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act since DaimlerChrysler's shares were
traded in the United States, and several bribes were routed through
U.S. bank accounts.

Daimler responded to Bazzetta's suit in 2004 saying he had been
fired because he falsified internal financial information and directed
subordinates to do the same. It said Bazzetta's whistleblower claims
had no merit because corporate officials were addressing the practice. 

	The automaker settled the suit out of court in 2005, but later
admitted in 2006 that its own investigation had found "improper
payments" in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, and that several 
employees had been dismissed. The government and Daimler are set
to appear before a federal judge April 1.