Thailand probes Rolls-Royce bribery case

BANGKOK: Thailand has launched a probe into the bribery case brought by British authorities against jet engine maker Rolls-Royce that involved Thai Airways International’s purchase of aircraft engines, the country’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) said on Thursday.

On Tuesday, British newspaper The Guardian reported that the engineering giant admitted in the high court to having paid bribes worth millions of pounds in six countries, including Thailand.

Rolls-Royce agreed in 1991 to pay 18.8 million dollars to “regional intermediaries” including government officials and Thai Airways employees, the BBC reported, citing a reporting from Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

The intermediaries “were expected to act in Rolls-Royce’s favour with respect to a purchase by Thai Airways of T800 engines.”

The company apologised for the cases and its CEO Warren East said the behaviour was “completely unacceptable.”

“The past practices that have been uncovered do not reflect the manner in which Rolls-Royce does business today,” East said. “We now conduct ourselves in a fundamentally different way. We have zero tolerance of business misconduct of any sort.” The NACC’s foreign affairs office said the independent anti-graft agency had launched a preliminary investigation into the issue in parallel with Thai Airways’ fact finding mission. — dpa