Swiss engineering group ABB fined $4.3m following South African bribery case

2nd December 2022 By: News24Wire

Swiss engineering group ABB fined $4.3m following South African bribery case

Swiss engineering and technology group ABB has been fined Swfr4-million ($4.3-million) by the country's Attorney General in connection with a bribery case in South Africa.

The Attorney General's office on Friday said the penalty was imposed on ABB for "not having taken all necessary and reasonable organisational provisions in order to prevent bribery payments to foreign officials in South Africa".

ABB and South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) this week reached an agreement that the company will pay reparations for its involvement in State corruption, the crime agency said on Thursday.

The company agreed to pay R2.5-billion ($144.51-million) in punitive reparations to South Africa within 60 days from December 1, the NPA's statement said.

This is in addition to R1.6-billion ($92.48-million) the company paid back to South African State power utility Eskom in 2020.

ABB was found guilty of improper payments and other compliance issues at the Kusile power station after a wide-scale investigation into State corruption concluded in June 2022.