Authorities Investigate Auditing Firm Concerning Huge Bribery Case

The major Dutch accounting firm KPMG is being investigated by the Justice Department as to its involvement in the bribery with hundreds of millions of dollars, of Saudi Arabian government officials by Dutch builder Ballast Nedam. The prosecution thinks that not only the building company officials but also the KPMG auditors have played some role in this. The focus of the investigation concerns falsified contracts, the use of false names, secret payments via Switzerland and the establishment of an internal administration in order to register bribes in the period 1997-2004. KPMG said that the investigation concerns an auditor who has since retired. Ballast Nedam said that the investigation doesn’t involve the current management. www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/11/25/strafrechtelijke-vervolging-kpmg-vanwege-rol-bij-omkopingen-door-ballast-nedam/