Archive for January 6th, 2009

Telecom Corruption In The News

Published by Omar Aijaz on January 6, 2009 under Business, Telecommunications

Telecom industry is no different from others when it comes to unethical practices. Recently Siemens was in the news about the corruption cases related to Bangladesh telecom. Siemens pleaded guilty to massive “accounting violations” and paid large fines. Here are related posts from LIRNE Asia about these cases.

Of the 4,283 bribery payments documented by the investigators, 2,505 (more than half) were made in relation to telecom contracts. Of the total of USD 1,400.7 million disbursed, USD 813.9 million (more than half) were for telecom. However, the complaint documents only three specific cases of large bribes paid in Vietnam, Bangladesh and Nigeria, all to government officials or politicians (including functionaries in government owned telecos). These three instances account for only slightly over USD 18 million, less than 3% of the total spent on telecom. This suggests rich pickings await the investigator who starts work on the court documents.

In 2002, Siemens COM paid approximately $140,000 in bribes in connection with a tender worth approximately $35 million for the supply of equipment and services related…