Ericsson risked workers lives by Islamic State
/0 Comments/in Ericsson /by ceadminThe telecoms company Ericsson put contractors’ lives at risk by insisting they continued working in territory controlled by the Islamic State [IS] group in Iraq. This resulted in them being kidnapped by IS militants.
Post Office scandal: Public inquiry to examine wrongful convictions
/0 Comments/in Post Office /by ceadminBetween 2000 and 2014, more than 700 sub-postmasters were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a flaw in a computer system Horizon.
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Former Qwest boss gets jail term
/0 Comments/in Qwest Communications /by ceadminJoseph Nacchio, the former boss of Qwest Communications, has been sentenced to six years in jail for insider trading.
He has also been ordered to hand over the $52m (£25m) he made from illegal stock trading and has been fined $19m.
Nacchio was found guilty of selling shares ahead of bad corporate news, and hiding information from investors
Judge dismisses Parmalat US trial
/0 Comments/in Parmalat /by ceadminA US federal judge has ruled that two banks and two auditors will not need to face charges over the collapse of Italian dairy firm Parmalat in 2003.
US district judge Lewis Kaplan said much or all of the alleged improper conduct took place outside of the US.
Citigroup, Bank of America, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Grant Thornton will now not need to face charges, he said
BP faces fines after Texas blast
/0 Comments/in BP Amoco /by ceadminThe US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has said it will fine BP $92,000 (£44,700) for breaches after a fatal blast in Texas in 2005.
The explosion and fire at BP’s Texas City refinery killed 15 people and injured 180 staff.
The citations, including one for a violation OSHA said may have led to another major accident, come from its post-blast monitoring of the plant
Nigeria files new Pfizer claims
/0 Comments/in Pfizer /by ceadminNigeria has accused Pfizer of fraud in a fresh court case filed against the drugs firm over its alleged role in the deaths of Nigerian children.
The government earlier withdrew the case – just as it was due to begin in the capital Abuja – to add new charges.
The government is seeking $7bn (£3
Parmalat to face US group lawsuit
/0 Comments/in Parmalat /by ceadminItalian dairy firm Parmalat can be sued by shareholders in a lawsuit concerning the collapse of its predecessor, a US judge has ruled.
Parmalat Finanziaria fell in 2003 under 14 billion euros ($18.6bn; £9
Siemens ex-managers found guilty
/0 Comments/in Siemens /by ceadminTwo former Siemens managers have been convicted by a German court of their involvement in paying 6m euros (£4.1m; $8m) in bribes to win contracts.
Andreas Kley, 63, received a two-year suspended sentence for bribery and breach of trust, while Horst Vigener, 73, was given nine months’ probation
Paribas fined $700,000 over fraud
/0 Comments/in BNP Paribas /by ceadminThe private bank of one of France’s biggest banks – BNP Paribas – has been fined $700,000 (£350,000) for allowing a senior manager to steal money from clients.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said controls in the bank’s London office were so weak that the employee had been able to take $3m (£1.4m)
Former Qwest boss guilty of fraud
/0 Comments/in Qwest Communications /by ceadminThe former boss of US phone company Qwest Communications, Joseph Nacchio, has been found guilty of 19 counts of insider trading.
A court in Denver ruled that in 2001, Nacchio sold $50m (£25m) of Qwest stock after being told the firm would miss its financial targets.
Nacchio, who was cleared on 23 charges, faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine that could total $19m
HSBC’s exclusive village branch
/0 Comments/in HSBC /by ceadminSome HSBC customers in a Dorset village will no longer be able to see their bank manager as the branch turns into one of the most exclusive in England.
At its Canford Cliffs branch, the self-titled “world’s local bank” will only allow face-to-face banking for its “premier” customers.
The move, which starts in June, means Canford Cliffs will be the country’s only exclusively “premier” HSBC branch
Watchdog probes drug distribution
/0 Comments/in Pfizer /by ceadminThe UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has begun a probe into the UK supply of medicines, after changes at the world’s biggest pharmaceutical firm, Pfizer.
Earlier this month, Pfizer began selling its prescription drugs through just one medical wholesaler, Unichem.
This was designed to tackle the rise in fake medicines, but patient groups said it could limit access to vital drugs
Japanese tycoon and his staff guilty of fraud
/0 Comments/in Livedoor /by ceadminControversial tycoon Takafumi Horie has been found guilty of fraud, following a six-month trial which has gripped corporate Japan.
The former boss of the once high-flying internet firm, Livedoor, was found guilty of falsifying the company’s accounts and misleading investors.
Horie, 34, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison
Total chief under investigation
/0 Comments/in Total /by ceadminThe boss of Total has been placed under judicial investigation as police step up their probe into alleged corruption involving the French oil firm in Iran.
Christophe de Margerie was interviewed on Wednesday about claims of illegal payments made to secure a natural gas deal with Iran in 1997.
Being put under judicial investigation is the first step to formal charges
BP blamed for Texas blast
/0 Comments/in BP Amoco /by ceadminBritish oil giant BP has been heavily criticised by US safety investigators over a refinery disaster that killed 15 workers in 2005.
According to the draft report from the US Chemical Safety Board, the blast was the result of lax safety culture at BP.
The report also said that the agency in charge of spotting safety problems had failed to see warning signs
Sanyo knocked by accounts probe
/0 Comments/in Sanyo /by ceadminShares in Japanese electronics giant Sanyo have sunk 21% on news that watchdogs are probing its accounts.
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is investigating claims of financial window-dressing at the group.
According to reports, Sanyo is said to have falsified its 2003 report to post a small profit rather than a loss
Samsung settles price fixing case
/0 Comments/in Samsung /by ceadminSamsung Electronics has agreed to pay $90m to settle legal action over microchip price-fixing allegations.
It must also co-operate in suits against other microchip manufacturers.
The South Korean company faced claims customers had been forced to overpay for equipment containing its dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips
Wal-Mart bias case to go to trial
/0 Comments/in Wal-Mart /by ceadminWal-Mart will face a lawsuit claiming pay discrimination against more than a million female US employees after a court approved the action.
A federal appeals court upheld a 2004 ruling giving the lawsuit class action status, sanctioning claims from up to 1.5 million current and former staff
Hyundai’s boss gets three years
/0 Comments/in Hyundai /by ceadminThe chairman of Hyundai Motor Company, one of South Korea’s biggest firms, has been sentenced to three years in jail for embezzlement and breach of trust.
Chung Mong-koo, 68, was accused of amassing a multi-million dollar slush fund for personal use and to pay lobbyists and politicians.
A spokesman for South Korea’s top auto maker said the ruling was disappointing and that an appeal would be filed
GE bank fined for sales breaches
/0 Comments/in GE Capital Bank /by ceadminGE Capital Bank, which is behind many High Street store cards, has been fined £610,000 ($1.2m) for payment protection insurance (PPI) sales breaches.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said the General Electric UK subsidiary failed to adequately control insurance sales and to treat customers fairly
GSK hid paxil suicide link
/0 Comments/in GlaxoSmithKline /by ceadminSecret emails reveal that the UK’s biggest drug company distorted trial results of an anti-depressant, covering up a link with suicide in teenagers.
Panorama reveals that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) attempted to show that Seroxat worked for depressed children despite failed clinical trials.
And that GSK-employed ghostwriters influenced ‘independent’ academics
Hartz sentenced in VW bribe case
/0 Comments/in Volkswagen /by ceadminPeter Hartz, the official at the centre of a bribery scandal surrounding car giant Volkswagen, has been given a two year-suspended prison sentence.
Hartz, a guiding hand behind former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s labour reforms, was fined 560,000 euros ($726,000; £369,000).
The former head of personnel at Europe’s biggest carmaker escaped jail after cutting a deal with prosecutors
Former VW boss admits corruption
/0 Comments/in Volkswagen /by ceadminVolkswagen’s former personnel chief Peter Hartz has admitted making illegal payments to union officials.
The confession, made through his lawyers, came at the start of his corruption trial in Germany.
A one-time advisor to former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Mr Hartz faces 44 charges of breach of trust
US excludes AWB after Iraq probe
/0 Comments/in AWB /by ceadminAustralia’s wheat exporter AWB has been suspended from US government contracts and faces permanent exclusion, for paying bribes to Iraq’s former regime.
The step was taken “based on evidence of illicit activities”, said US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.
Last month, a judicial inquiry found AWB broke UN oil-for-food programme rules by paying Saddam Hussein $222m (£112m) to secure contracts
Greek scandal sees Vodafone fined
/0 Comments/in Vodafone /by ceadminMobile phone giant Vodafone has been fined 76m euros ($100m; £51m) by a Greek privacy watchdog.
The Greek agency responsible for privacy said Vodafone had failed to protect its network from hackers who monitored 106 mobile accounts.
The accounts targeted included those of Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis as well as senior military officers and journalists
Sentencing over Foodservice fraud
/0 Comments/in Ahold /by ceadminThe ex-chief financial officer at US Foodservice, a unit of Dutch retailer Ahold, has been given three years’ probation over an accounting fraud.
Michael Resnick had pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy.
The case stemmed from an inquiry into Ahold’s 2003 admission that earnings at the US business had been overstated by more than $800m (£493m)
HP pays $14.5m to end ‘spy’ probe
/0 Comments/in Hewlett Packard /by ceadminHewlett-Packard (HP) has agreed to pay $14.5m (£7.4m) to settle a civil lawsuit over its much-criticised investigation into a boardroom leak
The whistleblowing bankers who were sent to jail
/0 Comments/in Barclaycard, United Kingdom, United States /by ceadminTwo traders jailed for rigging interest rates were the original whistleblowers of the scandal, and not the bosses that directed them to carry out the illegal actions. Leaked audio recordings reveal Peter Johnson and Colin Bermingham alerted the US central bank to a fraud that the tapes suggest was directed from the top of the financial system.