Corrupção: Portugal-Alemanha (olhós submarinos!!)

(...)

Insiders suspect that even more cases in which the Essen company did the dirty work for other companies could turn up soon. "The case could have repercussions for the whole of German industry," says a former MAN executive.

The current internal corruption scandal at Ferrostaal revolves around the delivery of two Type 209 submarines to Portugal. Ferrostaal, which had bid against submarine builder HDW and shipbuilder Thyssen Nordseewerke, won the €880 million contract in November 2003 -- with the help of bribes and a number of phony consulting contracts.

According to the investigators' files, a Portuguese honorary consul approached one of the Ferrostaal board members in 1999. The man allegedly said that he could be helpful in the initiation of the submarine deal. According to the files, the honorary diplomat demonstrated his influence by setting up a direct meeting in the summer of 2002 with then Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso.

The Ferrostaal executives in Essen were apparently so impressed that they signed a consulting agreement with the honorary consul in January 2003, in return for his "constructive assistance." Under the agreement, the Portuguese diplomat was to be paid 0.3 percent of the total contract volume if the deal went through.

The consul ended up collecting roughly €1.6 million, which the investigators see as a clear violation of his duties as a diplomat.

But it appears that Ferrostaal did not rely solely on its advisor's good connections to bring about the submarine deal. It is believed that a consulting agreement was concluded between Ferrostaal and a partner, on the one hand, and a rear admiral in the Portuguese navy, on the other. The deal, most recently, was worth €1 million.


A Portuguese law firm is also believed to have played a role in ensuring that that the contract was awarded to Ferrostaal, and that plenty of bribe money was paid in return.

Prosecutors have already identified more than a dozen suspicious brokerage and consulting agreements related to the submarine deal. According to the investigation files, all of these agreements were designed "to obfuscate the money trails," so as to pass on payments "to decision-makers in the Portuguese government, ministries or navy."

It appears that, in the end, Ferrostaal paid so many consulting fees that not much was left in the form of profits from the submarine deal.

mais uma vez na Der Spiegel.