Report: Ford offices raided in Germany over fraud investigation
Filed under: Europe, Government/Legal, Ford
Bloomberg is reporting that Ford’s German offices in Cologne and Leverkusen have been raided, along with the homes of employees and suppliers. The raids come in the wake of fraud and bribery allegations aimed at some Ford employees and an unnamed supplier.
According to Cologne prosecutor spokesperson Christin Pohlen, the scam centers around Ford employees who are alleged to have accepted payments (read: bribes) from vendors in exchange for allowing them to overcharge the automaker. The recent raids are said to have stemmed from a similar investigation in Saarbrücken, Germany.
Ford spokesperson Bernd Meier tells Bloomberg that the alleged crimes resulted in Ford losing less than 10 million Euros. There has been one arrest so far, though prosecutors haven’t yet revealed the names of anyone caught up in the investigation. Meier claims that Ford is fully backing the investigation and that the automaker is seeking damages against its (now former) employees.
[Source: Bloomberg | Image: Karen Blier/AFP/Getty]
Report: Ford offices raided in Germany over fraud investigation originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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