Britain's leading multinational manufacturer Rolls-Royce has issued an apology after the engineering giant was found to have paid millions of pounds in cash as well as a luxury car as bribes to middlemen in Indonesia, China, Russia and other countries to secure orders.
The company on Tuesday made admissions at the high court in London, the day after £671 million penalty was imposed to them to settle the long-running allegations. The firm said "it apologized unreservedly for the conduct which has been uncovered" in the statement read out in the court.
"The behaviour uncovered in the course of the investigations by the Serious Fraud Office and other authorities is completely unacceptable and we apologise unreservedly for it. This was unworthy of everything which Rolls-Royce stands for, and that our people, customers, investors and partners rightly expect from us," said Warren East, chief executive of Rolls-Royce.
According to The Guardian, the settlement was reached with investigators from United States, United Kingdom and Brazil, who five years ago started to scrutinize allegations that the firm had hired middlemen to pay bribes to win contracts.
QC for the Serious Fraud Office Richard Whittam revealed the findings of what he described as the "largest individual investigation conducted by the SFO to date".
A differed prosecution agreement act as a string of points within the agreement between the company and the SFO revealed long-running and systemic use of intermediaries.
Apart from paying £497m to the SFO, Rolls-Royce also said it would pay $169m in penalties to the US Department of Justice and $25m to the Brazilian authorities, in agreements announced on Monday.
Reputation of the company which sells turbines and engines for passenger jets and military aircraft around the globe have been undermined by the anti-bribery investigations. The car company of the same name is a separate firm.
Shares in Rolls-Royce jumped 6% on Tuesday after news of the settlement broke.
