BERLIN — German prosecutors investigating bribery allegations at Hewlett-Packard have sent another request to Russia for assistance in the investigation.
Russian authorities were asked “very recently” to interview several witnesses in the case, Wolfgang Klein, spokesman for Saxony’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Dresden, Germany, said in an interview Monday. Information Russia provided last year prompted the latest request, Klein said.
“Our new request is relatively comprehensive, with a long list of questions we want our Russian colleagues to ask the witnesses,” Klein said. “So this will take quite a while before we can expect some results.”
Dresden prosecutors are investigating whether current and former Hewlett-Packard employees engaged in bribery, improper use of funds and tax evasion related to a 35 million euro ($47.9 million) deal between a former German subsidiary of the company and the Russian Federation’s Prosecutor General’s Office.
Hewlett-Packard is cooperating with the investigation, Ina Ramsaier, a German spokeswoman for the Palo Alto, California-based company said.
The U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission joined the investigation in September and are also examining whether Hewlett-Packard violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act with deals in Russia, Serbia and the CIS dating back to 2000. Germany has shared findings in the case with U.S. investigators.
