Danish Company Accused of Bribery – Again

Last year it year it was uncovered that the Danish company Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) has been engaged in corruption in the Philippines. Now they are being accused of corruption in connection with a 1.2 billion Danish kroner contract in Malta, writes borsen.dk


Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian produces turnkey power stations, and is one of Denmark’s big export companies, last year they had a turnover of 1.3 billion Danish kroner.


The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lene Espersen is now looking into the new case after she was contacted by the Maltese public prosecutor who had considerably irregularities in connection with BWSC’s contract.


The Danish Minster underlines to borsen.dk, that the Danish Council for Export has an anti-corruption policy which is based on the principle of zero tolerance.


Well know businessman
The chairman of BWSC since 1986, Torkil Bentzen, is well know in Danish business life. His is former manager in Dong Energy, and have a seat in the board of director in FL Smidth. And he has earlier been part of the Foundation for Industrializing of Development Countries, a part of the Foreign Ministry in Denmark.


And he knows about the issue of corruption, in 2003 he said:
“It is an issue you had to deal with when working in countries in the Middle east, Africa and the Far East. I think it is well know in all export companies.”


The statement was made after the Danish newspaper Borsen documented that the Danish company back in 1999 accepted to pay a Filipino official. Danish police investigated the case but could not do anything at the time being according to Danish law.

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