The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) says that individuals at Blu-3 are suspected of paying more than 聽拢3m of bribes to former associates of Mace Group in relation to work on the construction of a data centre in the Netherlands for the technology giant Microsoft.聽聽
The SFO yesterday made three arrests after searching five properties in the UK and Monaco.聽
More than 70 SFO staff searched four homes and one commercial property across London, Kent, Surrey and Somerset today to seize evidence. Three individuals were arrested for questioning.
The operation also included a search of a suspect鈥檚 premises in Monaco by the authorities there, with assistance from the SFO.聽
Nick Ephgrave, director of the Serious Fraud Office, said: 鈥淧aying bribes to do business undermines our financial markets, the reputation of British companies and the rule of law and will not be tolerated.聽聽
鈥淭oday鈥檚 action is a reminder that we will take rapid and robust action to tackle suspected bribery and corruption wherever it appears 鈥� at home and overseas.鈥�
Solicitor general Lucy Rigby MP, who attended one of the arrests in north London, said: 鈥淏ribery undermines the values of fairness and playing by the rules, and hurts individuals, businesses, and our wider economy鈥�.this government is committed to tackling all forms of bribery to protect working people and ensure criminals are brought to justice.鈥�
A Mace spokesperson said: "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 said: 鈥淏lu-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.鈥�
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