ZTE could fork $1-Billion for bribery allegations vs US from the past
Tech giant ZTE could be facing a big crisis with talks surfacing of them paying big money to deal with past allegations of bribery against tbe United States.
The allegations of bribery started in 2018 and was initially believed to have been dealt with but the new leak from two confidants show that there’s more payments flowing down Trump and the United States soon to the tune of a billion US dollars. In a report posted by Reuters, the US Department of Justice has started an investigation for ZTE’s alleged violation of thr Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or FCPA wherein a company was not allowed to trade anything of value to secure business in another country.
And in that spirit, ZTE shares have seen a tremendous bump in their shares with the Hong Kong shares dipping by 12% while the Chinese stocks falling by 10%.
In a statement, ZTE has stated that they are open to communication with the aforementioned parties. They are committed to improving their compliance and working on their compliance framework. ZTE has also stated that they oppose all forms of corruption within their organization.
According to reports, ZTE had already paid around $2 Billion in penalties during the Trump administration for export violations and has been the subject of probes globally.
With all this, it is still not clear whether a deal could be sealed especially since it would also involve the Chinese government. Another deal breaker is the length that FCPA cases can take. In this situation it could take years before any movement can happen with the case.
In the Philippines however its not news at all. There was a big controversy around the early 2000s about the tech company in the country which was subject to inquiries from various people in power.
IMHO though, ZTE needs to work better because playing the bad boy has already showed the ugly effects for business and it doesnt help in anyway in repairing a rather sus imaging both for tech industry and business sector.
