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ALSTOM

Poland charges five in Alstom corruption case

Polish prosecutors on Tuesday said they have charged five people in a corruption case involving transport contracts won by Alstom, just days after the United States fined the French industrial giant a record penalty for bribery.

Published: 31 December 2014 07:09 CET
Poland charges five in Alstom corruption case
Photo: Georges Gobet/AFP

Two ex-managers at Alstom Konstal — the firm's Polish subsidiary — and three former Warsaw municipal employees are suspected of links to three contracts for delivering 108 subway cars and 122 tramways to the Polish capital in 1998-2002, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors in the western city of Wroclaw told AFP that French justice officials had been slow to cooperate in the investigation launched in 2008.

A spokesman for Alstom Konstal declined to comment on the ongoing case.

The US Justice Department announced last week that Alstom would plead guilty and pay a record $772.3-million (€635.2 million) penalty in a wide-ranging foreign bribery case.

Alstom admitted to bribing officials to win power and transportation projects from state-owned entities around the world, including the Bahamas, Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan.

Fresh corruption charges have also been brought against a British subsidiary of Alstom.

London's Serious Fraud Office has filed corruption charges against the unit and two employees in securing a contract for a power plant in Lithuania, according to court documents seen by AFP.

It was the second Alstom unit to face charges in Britain this year, after Britain's SFO in July launched proceedings against an Alstom unit over alleged corruption in India, Poland and Tunisia.

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GE

US giant GE to pay France €50 million after creating just 25 jobs out of 1,000

The French government announced Tuesday that US industrial conglomerate General Electric will pay €50 million ($57 million) after falling short of its goal of creating 1,000 new jobs in the country.

Published: 5 February 2019 15:54 CET
US giant GE to pay France €50 million after creating just 25 jobs out of 1,000
Alstom employees protest in front of the France's Ministry of Finance in Paris. Photo: AFP

GE had pledged to create the jobs by the end of last year as part of its 2015 purchase of the power and electrical grid businesses of France's Alstom.

But shortly after closing the deal GE unveiled a series of job cuts across Europe as slumping oil and gas prices crimped demand for its heavy-duty turbines and other equipment.

The company had already warned last year that it wouldn't meet the target, though the new CEO Larry Culp confirmed in October that GE would “fulfil its commitments.”

It had promised to pay €50,000 for every job not created over the three-year period.

The French finance ministry said after a meeting with GE officials Tuesday that the firm had created just 25 new jobs overall, meaning it would pay €50 million into an industrial development fund.

“GE underscored the significant of its continual investments in France during the period, and noted that despite the particularly difficult business climate, the group had done its utmost to create jobs,” the company said in a statement.

It pointed to a $330 million investment in offshore wind turbines in France announced last year, which it expects to eventually create 550 new jobs.

But union sources said last month that GE was planning to cut nearly 470 jobs, at its Alstom Power Systems GE Energy Power Conversion units.

Under Culp the company has been trying to get its power operations on more solid financial footing, with plans to cut costs further and reduce debt.

Last week it posted a $574 million profit for the fourth quarter, a welcome turnaround from the $11 billion loss a year earlier. 

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