On 25 April 2014, the Court of Appeals in Vaasa, Finland
dismissed bribery charges brought against a manager (the
"Manager") of Wärtsilä Group
("Wärtsilä") as well as the prosecutor's
claims for imposition of corporate fine and confiscation of
criminal proceeds against Wärtsilä.
According to the dismissed charges, the Manager gave bribes to
the CEO of a leading electricity distribution company in Kenya in
1999–2001 in order to induce the CEO to act in
Wärtsilä's favor both during and after the
negotiations for a Kenyan power plant project.
According to the Court, Wärtsilä's foreign
subsidiary had, in accordance with a 1997 consultancy agreement,
paid millions of British pounds to an offshore company, whose
Kenyan CEO, at the time of the payments, was a foreign public
official, as defined in the Finnish Criminal Code and the OECD
Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in
International Business Transactions.
