During a hearing before the U.S. Federal District Court, the German company Daimler AG admitted that it had bribed 22 governments over the past decade, including the Government of the Republic of Croatia. Daimler presented all confidential business data during the hearing and agreed to pay a fine of $185 million.
This was concluded after the hearing before Judge Richard Leon at the District Court in Washington on Thursday afternoon, U.S. time, where Daimler representative Gero Hermann appeared and accepted guilt. Of the total compensation, $29.1 million will be paid from the treasury of the Croatian subsidiary of Daimler, ETF, and this money is expected to “arrive” in the U.S. within ten days of the sentencing.
A long-term investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission uncovered a network of 220 offshore bank accounts used for bribery in 22 countries, and on that list, as confirmed in court, are “government officials and other close associates” from Croatia who secured the contract for fire trucks for Croatia.
No names of Croatian officials and their accomplices in corruption and bribery were read in court as they were not part of the settlement nor important to the U.S. side and the court after their investigations conclusively established that Croatians were also involved in “dirty dealings.” All details and information from the investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice should soon be received by USKOK and the State Attorney’s Office through international legal exchange.
Jurčić, Lučin, and Crkvenac Signatories of the Contract with Daimler
Mato Crkvenac as Minister of Finance, Šime Lučin as Minister of Internal Affairs, and Ljubo Jurčić as Minister of Economy signed contracts for the procurement of 210 trucks worth 85 million euros in 2003. Jurčić stated in the morning show of Croatian Radio Poligraf that Daimler’s bribery does not pertain to him. He emphasized that it is most important to conduct a detailed investigation as soon as possible. The decision was made by the Government after the commission’s assessment that an acceptable offer was made, says Jurčić. All jobs and agreements were completed before our signatures. (www.hrt.hr)
Daimler Export and Trade Finance GmbH (ETF) has pleaded guilty to bribing Croatian government officials from 2002 to January 2008, related to the 2003 contract for the procurement of 210 fire trucks for the Croatian Ministry of Interior, worth 85 million euros. Daimler is accused, among other things, of paying 3.02 million euros in bribes to Croatian officials through the Croatian company IM Metal. For the same purpose, the indictment states, Daimler paid American companies Biotop and MRC, which have since closed, 1,673,346 euros that were forwarded to Croatian government officials. Thus, a total of about 4.7 million euros was spent on bribery in Croatia, while unofficially, we learn that three million was spent in Russia for the same purpose.
Večernji list learns that Daimler conducted an internal investigation regarding the bribery of foreign governments in 2005, during which it also contacted Croatian authorities. After verifying where and to whom the money was going in most of the 22 countries, Daimler agreed to a settlement with U.S. authorities as it would likely lose up to three billion dollars in a long and costly court process due to violations of strict rules of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. After the Americans completed most of the work for Croatian investigators, it is now up to the rule of law to uncover the names of participants in the Daimler affair and all those in that chain who received bribes to their or others’ accounts. The hearing at the District Court in Washington was also attended by representatives of the Croatian diplomacy. (www.vecernji.hr)
