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US probing bribery allegations against Microsoft's Pakistan and Russia partners

US probing bribery allegations against Microsoft's Pakistan and Russia partners

By Anupam Saxena | Updated: 23 August 2013 17:15 IST

After reports emerged pointing to a US investigation into allegations of bribery by Microsoft's business partners in a number of countries including Russia and Pakistan, Microsoft has now confirmed that the company is cooperating with US authorities carrying an investigation into the same.

Microsoft has now posted a statement on its 'Microsoft on the Issues' blog.

Microsoft said on its blog, "Like other large companies with operations around the world, we sometimes receive allegations about potential misconduct by employees or business partners, and we investigate them fully, regardless of the source. We also invest heavily in proactive training, monitoring and audits to ensure our business operations around the world meet the highest legal and ethical standards."

Microsoft said that it has more than 50 people whose primary role was investigating potential breaches of company policy, and an additional 120 people whose primary role is compliance.

Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that US authorities were investigating Microsoft's relationships with business partners who allegedly bribed foreign officials in return for contracts in Russia, Pakistan, China, Romania and Italy.

The report, citing people familiar with the matter as source, mentions that an anonymous tipster informed Microsoft that resellers of its software in Russia, "allegedly funnelled kickbacks to executives of a state-owned company to win a deal."

Meanwhile, a tipster in Pakistan said that "Microsoft authorised a consulting firm to pay for a five-day trip to Egypt for a government official and his wife in order to win a tender." The report also offers more details adding that the trip took place in December 2009 and involved a Punjab Provincial government official and his wife, with an intent to win a three-year contract to supply the government its Microsoft Office software in a $9 million deal.

The tipsters reached out to Microsoft in the last eight months, according to WSJ sources. The report also claims that Microsoft opened an internal investigation, citing sources familiar with the matter.

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