A Microsoft elfogadta a rá kiszabott 25,3 millió dolláros büntetést az Egyesült Államokban ellene indított ügyben, amelyben a szoftvercéget az amerikai szövetségi antikorrupciós törvények megszegésével vádolták. Ez körülbelül 7,3 milliárd forintnak felel meg. A vád szerint a Microsoft hazánkban és más országokban fizetett illegális módon kormányzati dolgozóknak. Romániában minisztereket juttatott börtönbe, itthon csönd övezi a Microsoft-botrányt. Az amerikaiak nyomoznakugyan, de elég szűkre szabottak a jogköreik, a magyar hatóságok pedig nem tűnnek túl aktívnak – írja az index.hu a Reuters hírére hivatkozással. A Reuters jelentése:
Microsoft to pay criminal fine to settle U.S. anti-bribery charges
Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp agreed on Monday to pay about $25.3 million, including a criminal fine, to settle U.S. charges it made improper payments that were used to bribe government officials in Hungary and other countries.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Microsoft Hungary will pay the $8.75 million criminal fine, as part of a three-year non-prosecution agreement in which it “admits, accepts and acknowledges” responsibility for employees’ misconduct.
Microsoft also agreed to pay nearly $16.6 million to settle related civil charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its activities in Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Turkey, without admitting wrongdoing.
Both settlements resolved charges that Microsoft violated the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, after the Redmond, Washington-based company failed to properly account for the improper payments in its records.
In an email to employees, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the settlements “involved employee misconduct that was completely unacceptable,” and said the “small number” of employees involved in Hungary were no longer with the company.
“There is no room for compromise when it comes to ethical business practices,” Smith said in the email’s subject line.
Prosecutors said the Hungarian scheme generated at least $14.6 million of improper profit for Microsoft between 2013 and 2015, in connection with the sale of software licenses to Hungarian government agencies.
Executives and employees at Microsoft Hungary, which is based in Budapest, were accused of falsely telling Microsoft that steep discounts were needed to complete the transactions.