AFP — German carmaker Daimler said Monday that it is willing to cooperate with Greek authorities investigating allegations that bribes were paid in connection with contracts for military vehicles.
“We will cooperate fully with the authorities,” a Daimler representative said, adding that the company has not yet been contacted by Greek officials who launched the corruption inquiry in April.
A Greek judiciary source told AFP the case is “still at the investigation stage.”
Officials launched criminal proceedings on April 27 against seven people, including the head of Daimler dealerships in Greece, in connection with bribery and money-laundering allegations.
Daimler declined to give details on the case, including the names of any of the suspects.
The company said it had only become aware of the charges against the seven when the case was reported by the media.
The Daimler representative stressed that “in the present state of our knowledge,” the case “does not implicate Daimler, but individuals.”
Judiciary sources said the alleged bribes totaled 2 million euros ($2.25 million) and that four of the suspects were Greek, with the other three working for Daimler in Germany.
It was not clear if the trio were still employed by the company.
Greek prosecutors allege that bribes were paid in connection with contracts for vehicles for the Greek military, worth around 100 million euros in total, in the early 2000s.
In 2010, Daimler paid $185 million to settle a corruption case with US justice authorities. The charges involved the payment of alleged bribes in 22 countries.
