The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) made three arrests yesterday in an international operation investigating allegations of £3m worth of bribes being paid by blu-3 employees to former Mace associates
Over 70 SFO staff searched four homes and a commercial property across London, Kent, Surrey and Somerset on Wednesday in relation to alleged bribery between blu-3 and former Mace associates. A premises in Monaco was also searched by the Monagasque authorities.
The SFO suspects that blu-3 employees have paid over £3m in bribes to former associates of Mace Group to influence work on the construction of a data centre for technology giant Microsoft in the Netherlands.
Three individuals were arrested for questioning
Nick Ephgrave, director of the Serious Fraud Office, said: “Paying bribes to do business undermines our financial markets, the reputation of British companies and the rule of law and will not be tolerated.
“Today’s action is a reminder that we will take rapid and robust action to tackle suspected bribery and corruption wherever it appears – at home and overseas.”
Solicitor general Lucy Rigby MP, who attended one of the arrests in north London, said: “Bribery undermines the values of fairness and playing by the rules, and hurts individuals, businesses, and our wider economy….this government is committed to tackling all forms of bribery to protect working people and ensure criminals are brought to justice.”
A Mace spokesperson commented:
“Mace has a zero tolerance approach to breaches of our code of ethics, and takes any allegations of bribery extremely seriously. We are committed to fully supporting the Serious Fraud Office in investigating allegations against any former associates of the group.”
A blu-3 spokesman commented:
“blu-3 is currently supporting an external SFO investigation and is fully cooperating with the agency.
“We take matters of this nature extremely seriously and are committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct across all of our operations.”
