Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged a UK subsidiary of Paris-listed French engineering group Alstom with four further criminal offences of corruption and conspiracy to corrupt in a drawn-out investigation that has swung to Hungary.
The SFO, which has already charged two UK-based Alstom units and four former employees with alleged corruption in India, Poland, Tunisia and Lithuania, said on Thursday the latest charges concerned train contracts for the Budapest Metro between Jan. 2006 and Oct. 2007.
“We do not comment on ongoing inquiries and procedures,” an Alstom spokeswoman said.
The SFO said it had also charged Michael Anderson, a 54-year-old former business development director for Alstom Transport SA in France, with two charges of corruption and two offences of conspiracy to corrupt.
Anderson did not immediately reply to an email sent on his online Linked-In account and his lawyers at Taylor Wessing were not immediately available for comment.
Alstom, a manufacturer in the rail, power and electricity transmission sectors, has been at the centre of a global investigation for alleged corruption for the last six years.
The SFO, which first charged Alstom Network UK last July and charged Alstom Power Ltd in December, said its investigation continued.
The first hearing in the latest case, which the SFO dubbed “phase three”, is due to take place at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 12.
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