France's SAFRAN fined €500 000 for Nigeria bribery

PARIS, FRANCE: A French court on Wednesday fined electronics group SAFRAN €500 000 (US$630 000) for bribing Nigerian officials to obtain a huge ID card contract.

The case concerned offences committed by former electronics firm SAGEM, which merged with company SNECMA in 2005 to form SAFRAN, a major French electronics, aerospace and defence group.

The charges stem from allegations by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo that between 2000 and 2003 SAGEM executives paid Nigerian officials bribes ranging from US$30 000 to US$500 000 to win the US$214m identity card contract.

The court dropped charges against two former SAGEM executives: Jean-Pierre Delarue, then a sales manager with the company in Nigeria, and Francois Perrachon, then the company's director for identification systems in Paris.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge


 
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