Thailand is among seven countries named by the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which found conspiracy to corrupt or failure to prevent bribery by Rolls-Royce, involving payment of US$18.8 million (Bt663 million) to regional intermediaries. “Some of the money was for individuals who were ‘agents of the State of Thailand and employees of Thai Airways’,” the SFO said. The SFO revealed 12 counts of conspiracy to corrupt or failure to prevent bribery also in six other countries – Indonesia, India, Russia, Nigeria, China and Malaysia. The payment will comprise 479 million pounds (Bt29.1 billion) plus cost to the UK’s SFO, 141 million pounds to the US Justice Department, and another 21.5 million pounds to Brazilian regulators. “The behaviour uncovered in the course of the investigations by the Serious Fraud Office and other authorities is completely unacceptable and we apologise unreservedly for it,” he said in a statement.

Source: The Nation Bangkok January 18, 2017 18:04 UTC