This Friday, the US Department of Justice issued a decision on the recognition of Hewlett-Packard guilty of violating a number of fundamental rules of US law "On combating corruption abroad» (FCPA) and applying to it the penalty of a fine. According to the decision, published on the website of the US Justice Department, Hewlett-Packard will pay in the US 58.8 million dollar budget.

As the plea agreement signed by the company with the US authorities at the beginning of this year, in the 2001-2007 period. Russian "daughter» Hewlett-Packard (CJSC "Hewlett-Packard") was awarded a government contract worth 35 million euros for the supply of equipment, which was to become an important part of the automation computer and telecommunication infrastructure of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. The conclusion of the contract has not been without setbacks: Hewlett-Packard employees of the secret fund (secret fund) was created, which account for a significant portion of accumulated funds "intended for illegal payment services to Russian officials to provide assistance in the latest state contract," as young Zaphodxed in the judgment ..

According to statements by the executive vice president of Hewlett-Packard, John Schultz, the violations were related to the activities of employees, already dismissed from the company. According to him, Hewlett-Packard immediately after the detection of corrupt schemes began to cooperate with the investigation: the company provided all the necessary information US Department of Justice and the Commission on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Russian authorities have announced plans to modernize the Prosecutor General of the computer technology in early 1999, it followed from the text of the Justice Ministry charges against ZAO "Hewlett-Packard", published on the website of the newspaper The Wall Street Journal.

In mid-2001, Hewlett-Packard planned to conclude the state contract with the Prosecutor General's Office in the amount of $ 100 million, the first phase of the contract is estimated at $ 35 million (the amount was subsequently adjusted to EUR 35 million). To win the competition for the conclusion of this contract, the employees of Hewlett-Packard's Russian office was established a secret fund, which accounts only in 2003 was 8 million euros - a significant portion of this amount, and was founded in payment services districtUSSIAN officials. The names of these officials and Hewlett-Packard ex-employees of the Ministry of Justice in the text of the decision is not called.

In this case of an agreement between the Ministry of Justice and HP it should be that the company in its illegal activities to use complex buyback scheme (buy-back): first subsidiaries HP sold computer equipment of a public contract, the Russian partner, and then bought the same range through an agent a premium of nearly 8 million and 4.2 million in stages. Then, the company supplied the same products to the Prosecutor General at an inflated price, confirming the previously incurred costs. Payment is made through an intermediary several front companies - on their accounts and settled kickbacks to Russian government lobbyists. The agreement also states that some of the front companies were directly affiliated with the Russian civil servants or their relatives. Company names and surnames of their owners and are not disclosed. However, even at the stage of investigation by US authorities reported that one of the companies that received funds for the benefit ofgovernment officials, - Burwell Consulting, registered in the United Kingdom.

It is worth noting that in the course of this scandal, the Russian side has provided legal assistance to US law enforcement agencies in the investigation, for example, when in 2010, just a question to the activities of Russian Hewlett-Packard unit from the fiscal authorities in Germany, the staff of the Investigative Committee of Russia raided the Moscow offices of the company. Then experts attributed the move to institutional conflict between the TFR and Prosecutor General's Office, which was the continuation of the criminal prosecution of a number of prosecutors for allegedly backing of suburban casino. However, to open a criminal investigation into the Hewlett-Packard bribery of civil servants in relation to Russian TFR did not.

In JSC "Hewlett-Packard" to comment on decision of the US Justice Department refused, and was unable to get comments from the Prosecutor General's Office. Apparently, the Russian officials who have created this corruption scheme, liable to attract no one is going.