HP pays to end fraud probe
And starts buy-back scheme
HP is paying $55m to end an investigation into government procurement which suggested the ink giant was paying kickbacks to its channel partners in order to get government contracts.
HP said it was paying to end the investigation earlier this month, without admitting any guilt.
Assistant US Attorney General Tony West said: "As this case demonstrates, we will take action against those who seek to taint the government procurement process with illegal kickbacks," the SJ Mercury reports.
The case centred on payment of "influencer fees" to consultants paid to help government procurement projects. These were described as discounts or rebates but the DoJ was concerned they created a conflict of interest for channel partners supposedly looking for the best deals.
The DoJ continues to investigate Sun Microsystems and Accenture over similar allegations.
In other news HP told the SEC Monday that it intends to buy back $10bn of its own shares. In the quarter ended 31 July HP bought back $2.6bn of its own stock.
The SEC filing is here. ®
COMMENTS
A lowly HP employee writes
The company gives kickbacks and the ex-CEO was a petty crook.
And yet it's us poor employees who have to do the ethics training!
Kickbacks
So they are paying a kickback in order to stop the investigation into kickbacks?
US = Plutocracy
HP may have paid a larger fine and would have had to pay the lawyers thus the payoff.
We as measly little plebs would still have to plead guilty and pay the fine.
This is an example of what it wrong with business in the US.
When it suits them corps act liek individuals and demand rights and when it suits them they stand apart as entities immune from prosecution and held in special favor.
If a corp is going to buy off a probe then they should have to admit guilt or face the the beak.
One law for the Rich...
As this case demonstrates, we will take action against those who seek to taint the government procurement process with illegal kickbacks,"
No, it shows that if you have the cash, you can buy your freedom.
Corruption is alive and well in the Land of the free, sorry wealthy.
No problem, they can still rip industry and the general public.
They might have stopped, in the US, the "taint" pf the government procurement process with illegal kickbacks but HP continues s usual elsewhere.as well as in industrial applications.
When the founders were alive, HP was a beacon of fair dealing and honesty. Pity the board and management doesn't know HP's history.
