German automaker Daimler pleaded guilty to US charges of bribery and agreed to pay $185 million to settle the affair, the US government said Thursday. The Justice Department said Daimler and three of its subsidiaries had resolved charges related to a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigation into the company's worldwide sales practices. US District Court Judge Richard Leon approved the settlement at a hearing Thursday in Washington. “Daimler AG's Russian subsidiary DaimlerChrysler Automotive Russia SAO (DCAR), now known as Mercedes-Benz Russia SAO, and its German subsidiary, Export and Trade Finance GmbH (ETF), each pleaded guilty to criminal information charging the companies with one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA and one count of violating those provisions,” the Justice Department said in a statement. As part of the plea agreements, DCAR and ETF agreed to pay criminal fines of $27.3 million and $29.12 million, respectively, part of the $93.6 million in criminal fines and penalties that Daimler and its subsidiaries paid in total, it said. “These are significant and widespread violations,” said prosecutor John Darden, speaking in federal court on behalf of the US government. Darden noted that the sentence is clearly below federal sentencing guidelines. Daimler had earlier admitted to making hundreds of improper payments worth tens of millions of dollars to foreign government officials in at least 22 countries between 1998 and 2008, according to a deferred prosecution agreement filed in a Washington court. The kickbacks of cash and gifts of luxury armored cars, golf clubs and vacations helped secure government contracts worth millions of dollars in China, Russia, Thailand, Greece, Iraq and other countries.
