Alstom says will aim for best practices after record bribery settlement
PARIS, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Alstom said on Monday it would strive for the best compliance procedures and had stopped hiring external sales consultants after it agreed to pay $772 million to settle global bribery charges with the U.S. Justice Department.
It was announced earlier on Monday that Alstom's U.S. power generation and transmission grid units have each entered into deferred prosecution agreements with the DOJ and admitted to conspiring to violate bribery laws.
"If the two U.S. subsidiaries fulfil the terms of their deferred prosecution agreements, all criminal charges will be dismissed against them at the end of three years," Alstom said in a statement.
Alstom said it had made "significant progress" in the area of compliance over the past few years.
The group said again that the settlement of the U.S. investigation would not have a material financial impact on the proceeds of the 12.35 billion-euro ($15.12 billion) sale of most of its power arm to General Electric. ($1 = 0.8167 euros) (Reporting by Natalie Huet; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
