A judicial inquiry in Frankfurt, Germany, revealed that the German railway company Deutsche Bahn gave 315,000 euros as bribes to Greece and to other countries in Africa and Asia.
According to the German media, this led to imposing fines on a number of the company’s executives. Deutsche Bahn announced its withdrawal from countries with “known high risk of corruption.”
The court of Frankfurt decided that the German railway company will have to pay a fine of 500,000 euros for the bribes that the company gave while doing business with four countries in Africa and Asia– Algeria, Libya, Rwanda, Thailand- but also with Greece, for the years between 2001 and 2006.
The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung in an article published on June 18 entitled, Deutsche Βahn says goodbye to Greece, referred to the Greek suburban railway that connects Piraeus Port with the airport and the center of Athens with Corinth.
The German railway company has already proceeded to internal controls and has identified 37 suspects for cases of corruption while they have replaced 30 executives of the subsidiary company Deutsche Bahn International (DBI), who appear to be involved in bribery cases- among them, the former head of the company in Greece.
However, what is really impressive about Süddeutsche Zeitung’s article is that the newspaper blames the countries that took the money. Moreover, it says that the competent authorities in Germany have taken action to uncover many countries known for having “a high risk of corruption.”
“Now our railway company is making a new start and leaving the courtiers that are prone to corruption,” Süddeutsche Zeitung concludes.
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