Franco-American company Alcatel Lucent, a well-known telecommunications equipment manufacturer, will pay $137 million to settle a US lawsuit. The company is accused of paying bribes to secure lucrative contracts in Asia and Latin America.
It was found that the representatives Alcatel Lucent (at the time of the offense the company Alcatel has not yet been purchased by the American Lucent) paid bribes to officials in Taiwan, Costa Rica, Honduras and Malaysia to get better terms on telecom deals.
In total, the period from December 2001 to June 2006 was checked, the amounts spent on bribes were either not documented by the company, or written off to pay consultants, which were not confirmed. During the trial Alcatel acknowledged making a profit of $48.1 million from such illegal activities.
The company agreed to pay $92 million on criminal corruption charges filed by the US Department of Justice. Another 45 million will be directed to the settlement of civil charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission.