British American Tobacco investigated by Serious Fraud Office
UK tobacco firm British American
Tobacco (BAT) says it is under official investigation by the Serious
Fraud Office (SFO) over allegations it paid bribes in East Africa.
The allegations were first made in a BBC Panorama programme in 2015.
BAT said that it had been investigating the claims through external legal advisers and it had been co-operating with the SFO.
The firm said it also intended to co-operate with this formal investigation.
Paul
Hopkins, who worked for BAT, a British company, in Kenya for 13 years,
told Panorama he had begun paying bribes after being told it was the
cost of doing business in Africa.
The payments were aimed at influencing laws surrounding the use of tobacco in the region.
The
SFO confirmed it was "investigating suspicions of corruption in the
conduct of business by BAT plc, its subsidiaries and associated
persons".
It asked those with "information relevant to this
investigation, please contact the SFO through its secure and
confidential reporting channel".
Secret documents
The
Panorama programme alleged that BAT, whose brands include Dunhill and
Pall Mall cigarettes, had made illegal payments to politicians and civil
servants in East Africa.
The BBC spent five months investigating
and was shown hundreds of secret documents purporting to show
backhanders to various officials, including MPs and even people working
for a rival company in East Africa.
BAT told Panorama at the time: "The truth is that we do not and will not tolerate corruption, no matter where it takes place."
Following
the news of the official SFO investigation, BAT said in a statement:
"As previously announced, we are investigating, through external legal
advisers, allegations of misconduct.
"We have been co-operating
with the Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") and British American Tobacco
("BAT") has been informed that the SFO has now opened a formal
investigation. BAT intends to co-operate with that investigation."
The
SFO, which Prime Minister Theresa May suggested during this year's
election campaign should be closed down, has this year fined engine
maker Rolls-Royce £500m for bribery and Tesco £130m for mis-stating its
accounts.
Shares in BAT were down almost 4% at the start of trading before recovering to a gain of 2%.
They
have had a rocky ride in recent days after the US Food and Drug
Administration announced it planned to reduce nicotine levels in
cigarettes. Its shares have lost about 10% since the FDA's statement on
Friday.
BBC
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