Paris Court Finds Safron Guilty Of Bribery

French firm, Safran, has been fined 500,000 euros by the Paris Criminal Court after being found guilty for bribing public officials in Nigeria to secure the 171 million euro contract to print some 70 million identity cards between 2000 and 2003. In 2005, SAGEM merged with SNECMA to form Safran and paid bribes worth between $30,000 to $500,000 to Nigerian officials between the period. Prosecutors had sought a suspended sentence of up to 18 months and fines of 15,000 euros for two former SAGEM executives: Jean-Pierre Delarue, then a sales manager in Nigeria, and François Perrachon, the former director for identification systems. But charges were dropped against the two. According to the prosecution, Sagem paid bribes to high-ranking Nigerian officials including the former Minister of Internal Affairs. “Safran would like to point out that it is deeply attached to the strict respect of anti-corruption rules,” the company said in a statement. Adding that it will appeal the courts decision.