UK arms manufacturer BAE has paid over £1m to front companies for the Chilean General Augusto Pinochet, documents obtained by the Guardian show.
Three companies linked to Gen Pinochet were getting money from the UK defence giant as late as June last year.
The documents show that between December 1997 and October 2004 BAE paid $1,998,871 (£1
Former Shell chairman Sir Philip Watts has lost an appeal against the UK’s city watchdog over how it handled the probe into Shell’s oil reserves crisis.
Sir Philip was forced to step down in January 2004 after the oil giant cut its reserves estimates by 20%.
Sir Philip accused the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of violating his rights by fining Shell £17m without giving him the opportunity to respond
China’s number two bank, Bank of China, has been named in media reports as the subject of a US inquiry into an illicit North Korean fund-raising network.
The bank is suspected by the US of links to criminal syndicates helping to finance Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The bank and two others based in Macau were caught up in a major US operation to shut down the trade, the paper said
Internet giant Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to China which led to the jailing of a journalist for “divulging state secrets”.
Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo’s Hong Kong arm helped China link Shi Tao’s e-mail account and computer to a message containing the information.
The media watchdog accused Yahoo of becoming a “police informant” in order to further its business ambitions
A former employee of Halliburton subsidiary KBR has admitted taking $110,300 (£61,225) in bribes from an Iraqi firm it awarded a US contract.
The $609,000 contract was to renovate warehouse and office space in Iraq.
Glenn Allen Powell – whom KBR has fired – faces up to 20 years in jail and a fine of up to $1
US drugs giant Merck has been ordered to pay $253.4m (£141.07m) to the widow of a man who died from a heart attack blamed on the popular painkiller Vioxx
Drinks giant Coca-Cola has been ordered to close one of its largest bottling plants in India for breaching environmental regulations.
Closure with immediate effect has been ordered by the Pollution Control Board of the southern state of Kerala.
The plant in the village of Plachimada is one of 27 that the soft drinks company has in India
Venezuelan tax authorities have closed a Royal Dutch Shell office for 48 hours and asked for an injunction on some of the oil firm’s assets in a tax dispute.
The row centres on a $131m (£74m) bill for back taxes covering 2001-2004, presented to the oil giant in July.
Venezuela’s tax authority said it had put a hold on Shell goods worth $131m and shut its office in Lake Maracaibo
Semiconductor maker Intel is facing a probe into its sales practices in South Korea, echoing similar inquiries in Europe and Japan.
Intel revealed it was co-operating with the country’s Fair Trade Commission which has requested documents relating to marketing and rebate schemes.
Earlier this year the firm was rebuked for violating antitrust laws in Japan, and is also under scrutiny by Brussels
The US Justice Department has begun an inquiry into allegations of bribery at DamilerChrysler’s Mercedes unit, the German-US carmaker has confirmed.
DaimlerChrysler said it was co-operating fully, and has made all its accounts available.
The criminal probe escalates a civil one by the US market watchdog, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday