The investigation was launched in September and involves allegations Ford workers accepted bribes from third-party contractors and other would-be suppliers. Around 100 police officers raided Ford of Europe's offices yesterday. Both Ford's European operations and the prosecutors' office said the carmaker had been cooperating with the investigation since its start.
The Police have also raided the offices of a company in nearby Leverkusen and 30 other sites, including private homes. One person was arrested. Cologne prosecutors began the probe in September following investigations at another Ford plant in Saarbruecken.
Ford employees working in a facilities-management department received ‘material benefits’ from companies that had contracts with the carmaker or were seeking them, in exchange for preferential treatment or having fraudulent invoices drafted from them.
The company estimated that the alleged corruption scheme had cost it several million euros and it plans to seek damages from those found guilty of participating in the alleged scheme, according to a Ford spokesman.
The company said in a statement that it supported the raid, "as it serves to uncover crimes" that have caused it damages, and has begun reviewing its compliance processes to see whether and where they needed to be strengthened, having already revised its processes for approving contracts and strengthened its controls around them.
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