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Now SEC piles into HP bribery probe

HP is facing a widened bribery investigation by the Department of Justice and US financial regulators, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals. In its quarterly filing HP said that the US Department of Justice and the SEC were both investigating allegations of dubious dealing by the ink giant in Russia …

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Anonymous Coward
Paris Hilton

Earth to Bill and Dave.....come in please.....

Jeez, during my time at HP they were excrement-hot on doing business in foreign lands and if anyone got caught doing monkey-business their desk was cleared instantly.

Now look at the rabble. This used to be a company which had an exemplary record, but nowadays they are into the cheap-shit market.

Paris. Well I did mention cheap-shit didn't I?

Anonymous Coward
Black Helicopters
Reply Icon

@Andrew

Bzzt!

They only got their desks cleared out if they got caught.

This has always been business as usual in certain parts of the world.

Anonymous Coward
Flame

lol

I love how our execs waste thousands of man hours lecturing our worker bees on ethics when they run around doing shit like this.

Obviously we should layoff more people to keep this from happening in the future. That's the answer to everything right?

JaitcH

Corporate Betrayal. 'Nuff said.

"Since HP was founded in 1939, we have fostered a culture built on trust, respect and dignity for all. Our shared values and objectives guide our work. We adhere to laws and regulations that apply to our business wherever we operate, and our stringent internal standards, policies and processes often go beyond these requirements. Our ethics and compliance office provides the oversight, support and resources to maintain our culture of integrity, and is reinforced by numerous compliance functions across the business, including the privacy office, U.S. public sector compliance, global trade, anti-corruption and environmental functions."

From "Ethics and compliance" < http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/society/ethics/index.html >

Bullseyed

Say whaaaat?

Even if they did bribe the Russians for a contract... why would that make them liable to pay the SEC fines? That makes no sense. If they broke some Russian law, let it be dealt with by Russia. It should have no effect on the US government.

Meanwhile the SEC is wasting money investigating a US company providing jobs for thousands of American citizens. Isn't the federal government supposed to protect our citizens, not the Russians?

JaitcH
Happy
Reply Icon

Why pay the SEC?

Very simple, because the U.S. and other countries have laws that make the paying of bribes illegal.

Also, since Madoff, the SEC has new vigour..

El
Unhappy

Great

8 million?!? Further evidence that I'm in the wrong line of work! How do I get a transfer to the procurement department?

raving angry loony

obvious

It's Elison's fault. And Hurd. Definitely. Maybe Google. Couldn't possibly be the fault of the HP Board of Directors. No. Never. Nuh-huh. Not them.

The Cube

Not really fair to HP

Everything in Russia requires that you pay off the appropriate officials, it is the national industry. The brother of the Nigerian Finance Minister stares slack jawed in awe at the corruption in Russia. Any western company wanting to do business in the FSU needs local fixers to pay off the government, organised crime (and the power company if you are trying to open an Ikea).

Whilst the HP management under Carly and Turd have been a bunch of utter bankers they are not really to blame for this, shareholders demand growth in the Russian markets, this is how you deliver.

Anonymous Coward
Pint

Ethics

Since Oracle just had Mark Hurd come on board, they had everyone retake the corporate ethics training. Perhaps they think he may be infectious?

Anonymous Coward
Happy

Ah, the BAE defence

"Any western company wanting to do business in <insert country here> needs local fixers to pay off the local <official/prince/mafia (*delete as applicable)>

400 million should cover it right?

I'm sure they did "nothing wrong"...

Anonymous Coward
Unhappy

Another dodgy deal revealed

After a string of dodgy deals have been revealed, and HP has paid off the US authorities to end the investigation yet another list of shady transactions, we get this. The cherry on top has been the revelation that the ex-head-honcho was involved in inappropriate sexual activities with a underling (yes, Mark, we know you bought her off) and was fiddling his expenses in an attempt to cover his tracks. Then the Board, yes the Board that is supposed to ensure the ethical and moral values of HP are upheld, PAID HIM OFF!

Quite frankly I feel embarassed to have to admit I am an HP employee. I think that this company is rotten to the core. The Board and upper management are getting the rest of us honest employees, ie. the ones with some integrity and moral fiber, smeared with the same sh!t that they are up to their necks in.

Anonymous Coward
Pirate

€8m in bribes?

Sounds like the standard Russian rate to me. What's everybody upset about?

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