Rolls Royce announces opening of US Justice Department prove over bribery allegations

According to Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc, the US Department of Justice is the next authoritarian figure who has joined UK fraud prosecutors in probing bribery and corruption practices that allegedly happened at the company.

Part of the commercial jet engine maker's annual report pertained to the investigations launched by US and UK authorities, which read, "The group is currently under investigation by law enforcement agencies, primarily the Serious Fraud Office in the UK and the US Department of Justice. Breaches of laws and regulations in this area can lead to fines, penalties, criminal prosecution, commercial litigation and restrictions on future business."

In a separate statement made today, Rolls-Royce clarified that it has yet to receive a formal statement coming from the US federal agency regarding its probe on the company, Bloomberg said. It did say about its plan to cooperate with both authorities regarding the company's alleged bribery and corruption practices.

Bloomberg said the SFO launched a formal probe into the company in December of last year and had requested for an extra allocation of £19 million or $26 million to conduct blockbuster probes on companies including Rolls-Royce.

The commercial jet enginemaker's latest report yesterday also revealed the company's efforts to satisfy concerns about the bribery and corruption allegations by stating that it has amended its global code of conduct and that its employees are required to acknowledge the changes, Bloomberg said. Moreover, Rolls-Royce was said to have updated its confidential ethics line for its staff and was subsequently launched last year.

The company also claimed in the report that regardless of the outcome of the US or UK probe, it has no knowledge or had made no assessments of the amount of fines it could pay for potential bribery and corruption incidents that could have happened at the company. Bloomberg noted that weapons maker BAE Systems Plc was levied a $400 million fine by the US in charges parallel to that of Rolls-Royce.

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Rolls-Royce bribery and corruption probe, UK Serious Fraud Office, US Department of Justice

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