GE to pay 23 million dollars after Iraq bribery charges

[sabra]

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON — US industrial titan General Electric has agreed to pay over 23 million dollars to settle allegations that it bribed Iraqi officials, a US financial watchdog said on Tuesday.

GE had been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of being part of "a 3.6 million dollar kickback scheme with Iraqi government agencies to win contracts to supply medical equipment and water purification equipment."

Four subsidiaries of the Connecticut-based company were accused of bribing officials at the Iraqi ministries of health and oil, trading cash, computer equipment and medical supplies to win lucrative contracts.

The SEC said the four GE units -- two of which were not part of the firm when the alleged bribery took place -- earned around 18.4 million dollars as a direct result of the kickbacks.

"Bribes and kickbacks are bad business, period," said Robert Khuzami, the head of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jKtqdEXA8UBjEFqrNQFpEjdwOgsQ

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

1. Wanna bet they keep the contracts?

:shrug:

[defendandprotect]

2. GE was first and last to defraud government -- should have been BARRED long ago --

[No Elephants]

3. U.S. bribes, er, I mean, campaign donations bring a much better return on investment.

[burf]

4. Does that mean

K O will come in for a special comment this evening?

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Wrist slap

The can scrounge that is the seat cushions.

[Doctor_J]

6. $23 million?

what's that, one hour in Iraq? How about federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison for the execs and the DoD procurers?

[PSPS]

7. Nothing more than the cost of doing business

They pay no tax anyway, so I guess they can carry this deduction forward.

[Hepburn]

8. Hey, wait, the five RW Assholes on the US Supreme Ct said...

...GE has personhood ~~ sounds like that GE person/corp should do some time. So lock up GE corp offices for a few years in addition to that fine.