One of the world's biggest fertiliser companies involved in a bribery case for paying $8 million in bribes
When companies are caught in Bribery, Fraud and Corruption acts, in most cases they are forced to pay the biggest corporate fines ever. Often, these misconducts occur in countries that are in the 'red zone' of the corruption perception index and the indictments underline the gravity.
Yara is indicted with three counts unusually serious corruption charges, which include negotiating the payments or consenting as the company to establish joint ventures. The corporation has acknowledged that improper payments were made and accepted the fine. The size of the fine-295 million Norwegian kroner, equivalent to about $48 million-was determined by Norwegian police (Oekokrim - the economic crime unit of the national police.
The case has attracted strong criticism from some Yara shareholders, including the Norwegian government, which holds 36.2 percent and the state-owned pension fund Folketrygdfondet, the company's second-largest shareholder.
Libya
In this case Yara, a Norwegian chemical company the executives bribed officials, which included the family of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's oil minister and the family of a financial adviser in India's Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. They are all charged with committing gross misconduct, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years according to the Norwegian penal code.
India
Police also said the executives agreed and approved in 2007 a agreement to pay bribes of $250,000 - later increased to $3 million - to a relative of an Indian official, in relation to the negotiations on a joint venture between Yara and a company controlled by the Indian government.
CEO: I was unaware
Among the indicted is the former chief executive whose defense attorney said: the allegations are absolutely meaningless, without any evidence, it has not happened, and nobody's claimed that my client knew about this. My client did not even know that there was a consultant in Libya.
The formal indictment means the case will now go to trial. It must however be noted that the executives involved in the case that include former chief executive and chief legal counsel have denied all charges and all persons are considered innocent until proven by a court.
Source: Reuters
