Hewlett-Packard probe roils California U.S. Senate race [View All]

SEC and others are investigating whether company executives paid bribes to win a lucrative foreign contract while under the leadership of GOP candidate Carly Fiorina.

April 20, 2010|By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times

An international investigation of alleged misdeeds by Hewlett-Packard executives while the company was headed by Carly Fiorina is roiling the U.S. Senate race in California, where Fiorina is among the front-runners for the Republican nomination.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and German and Russian authorities are investigating whether executives with the company paid nearly $11 million in bribes to win a $47.5-million contract in 2003 to sell computers through a German subsidiary to Russian prosecutors, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. Such a move would violate the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, which prohibits U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials.

The actions are alleged to have taken place while Fiorina was Hewlett-Packard's chief executive. Fiorina, who along with former Rep. Tom Campbell has been at the top of pre-primary polls, denied knowledge of wrongdoing.

"I had no knowledge of any of these allegations," she told Northern California radio station KQED-FM on Friday. "I certainly welcome, as I'm sure the company does, I welcome the government's investigation. I mean, these are serious allegations. I have a long track record of firing people who are engaged in illegal or unethical behavior. And certainly had this occurred and I had been aware of it, I would have done the same."

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/20/local/la-me-0420-fiorina-20100420