Good solid journalism ethics being followed hear! Worthy of EMUlation:)
Alstom says no ‘systematic bribery’, mum on MACC probe
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — Scandal-hit Alstom denied today it bribed an Umno veteran for power plant project in Perlis as alleged in a Singapore daily yesterday.
The French engineering giant also declined comment when asked to confirm if its Malaysian executives were being investigated by national anti-graft officials over its connections to a local company partly controlled by Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Pawanteh.
In responding to The Malaysian Insider, Alstom maintained its stand that reported financial improprieties in its business dealings here were one of three isolated cases and were not the result of a “systematic bribery” endorsed by the company.
“As underlined in the Swiss Attorney’s conclusions, Malaysia is one of the cases where the company has been a victim of the misconduct of its employees,” Beverly Ho, Alstom Malaysia’s communications manager said in an email reply received early this morning.
It stressed that the company had been fined by Swiss authorities for “corporate negligence in the past, not for having organised a corruption scheme”.
“The company is not in the position to elaborate more into details as it was not conducting the investigations,” she added when asked to comment on a recently-launched investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) into the company’s local dealings with Teknologi Tenaga Perlis Consortium (TTPC), as reported by Singapore’s Straits Times (ST) yesterday.
Ho said Swiss prosecutors had noted Alstom’s fine did not call into question the firm’s principles or code of ethics which, she said, was recognised to be of the “highest quality standards”.
MACC also declined to confirm the Singapore daily’s report that it opened a file on the company beyond saying it investigates all corruption cases brought to its attention.
“Yes, I can confirm that MACC will investigate whatever corruption cases there are,” Datuk Mustafa Ali, head of MACC’s investigation division, told The Malaysian Insider when contacted yesterday.
He said the commission could not say anything further while investigations are ongoing as it may jeopardise the process.
Abdul Hamid, a former Perlis mentri besar and Dewan Negara president who was reported to be directly implicated in Alstom’s indictment for bribery in securing foreign contracts, has also denied accepting monies.
“I wish to categorically state that the allegations contained in the above report are totally baseless and malicious,” Abdul Hamid said in a statement to The Malaysian Insider last night.
He stressed that the company’s board of directors, including Ti Chee Liang who was named in the Swiss court papers, did not receive “7.5 million Swiss francs (RM25.5 million) to help Alstom Malaysia secure a contract to build a power plant in Perlis in late 1995”.
“I confirm that no monies were received by any Board members including me,” the Umno veteran said.
Abdul Hamid explained that the decision to award the contract was unanimous and the contract was later awarded on November 30, 1999 when he was the board chairman. He was Perlis mentri besar between 1986 and 1995 before being made TTPC board chairman from 1996 to 2005.
The politician also disclosed that he was unaware of ongoing investigations into Alstom Malaysia by the Swiss authorities.
“To date, I have not been notified or called by thern to make any statements or provide any details. I am shocked that the Swiss authorities have accused Ti and me of wrongdoings, financial or otherwise.
“For this reason, I have instructed solicitors in Switzerland to initiate proceedings to clear my name. I welcome any investigation pertaining to these baseless allegations,” Abdul Hamid said in his statement.
In the report picked up by The Malaysian Insider, the Straits Times said both Abdul Hamid and his former business partner Ti were singled out in the criminal summons against Alstom.
According to ST, Alstom was fined €31 million (RM130 million) by the Swiss Attorney-General two weeks ago for failing to implement proper controls to prevent bribery by company executives in Malaysia, Latvia and Tunisia, an offence under Swiss law.
Alstom is a major player in Malaysia in the power business, and is credited with supplying key equipment for nearly 7.5 gigawatts of the country’s installed power generation capacity, the paper added.
Last month, Alstom’s Malaysian office denied it was aware of local investigation regarding the RM130 million fine by Swiss authorities involving contracts awarded to the company here.
“There is no probe ongoing in Malaysia that we are aware of and Alstom has co-operated fully in Switzerland. The fine is for corporate negligence in the past and not for bribery,” Alstom Malaysia president Saji Raghavan said in a November 22 statement.
“In fact, investigation confirms there is no systematic bribery and sufficient controls are in place,” he pointed out.
The company had described itself as a “subcontractor of a consortium” and a “victim of the actions of some of its employees, who would have benefited from kickbacks”, according to a previous Reuters report.
The Swiss summary punishment order obtained by The Malaysian Insider showed that Alstom’s business units paid success fees which totalled 7.7 million Swiss francs to offshore companies belonging to Ti and Abdul Hamid “with accounts in Switzerland.”
“Both of the aforementioned beneficiaries were at the time leading executives at the client of Alstom. In return for payment, they influenced both the award of contracts as part of this project in previous years (including securing of financing) and ensured that any difficulties encountered by the client in the performance of the contract was resolved in favour of Alstom,” according to the document signed by Swiss chief federal attorney Walter Mader and federal attorney Stefan Lenz from the Attorney-General’s Office.
Alstom is the second French company in as many years to be fined for bribing government officials in Malaysia, after telecommunications firm Alcatel-Lucent paid RM435 million to resolve US criminal and civil probes in December 2010.
The four-year probe centred on payments made by Alstom Network Schweiz AG to middlemen — termed “commercial agents” by the company — in return for securing government contracts to build power stations in 15 countries since the 1990s.
Alstom was awarded a RM2.8 billion contract by Tenaga Nasional earlier this year to provide key power generation equipment to Southeast Asia’s first 1,000-megawatt (MW) supercritical coal-fired power plant Manjung.
It also won turnkey contracts in 1994 and 2000 to build four power plants including the 1,300MW Lumut and the 670MW Kuala Langat plants and deals in 2003 and 2004 to install environmental control systems for the Tanjung Bin and Jimah coal-fired power plants.
Alstom was also appointed by Tenaga to supply two 125MW hydro power turbines, a generator and ancillaries for the 250MW Hulu Terengganu hydro power plant in 2010.
Alstom says it is “the largest original equipment manufacturer in Malaysia”, having supplied key equipment for nearly 7.5 gigawatt (GW) of the country’s installed power generation capacity.
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