Rolls-Royce apologises for global bribery scandal involving China, Russia, Indonesia

The engineering giant Rolls-Royce has apologised after it was found to have paid bribes including a luxury car and millions of pounds’ worth of cash to middlemen to secure orders in six countries, including Indonesia, Russia and China.

Britain’s leading multinational manufacturer made the admissions on Tuesday at the high court in London, a day after it was revealed that it would pay £671 million (US$828 million) in penalties to settle long-running corruption allegations. In a statement read out in court, the firm said it “apologised unreservedly for the conduct which has been uncovered”.

The settlement was reached with investigators from three countries – the UK, US and Brazil – who five years ago started to scrutinise allegations that the firm had hired middlemen to pay bribes to win contracts.

Richard Whittam, a QC for the Serious Fraud Office, detailed the findings of what he said was the “largest individual investigation conducted by the SFO to date”.

The agreement between the firm and the SFO – called a deferred prosecution agreement – revealed systemic and long-running use of middlemen over three decades. The court heard that:

• In Indonesia, Rolls-Royce gave US$2.25 million and a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit car to an individual in exchange for a “favour to Rolls-Royce on a contract” for Trent aero engines to be provided to Garuda Indonesia. Separately Rolls-Royce paid a representative from a rival bidder to deliberately submit an uncompetitive bid on a contract Rolls-Royce successfully secured.