Software giant Oracle has said it will pay the United States Government $US46 million to settle a claim that it paid kickbacks to win contracts.
The US Department of Justice had said that Sun Microsystems, now a subsidiary of Oracle, had spent money on consulting companies that would be given money each time they influenced a government agency to purchase a product.
Tony West, assistant attorney general for the civil division of the Department of Justice, said in a statement that the case proves it will take action against companies that abuse consulting processes.
“Kickbacks, illegal inducements, misrepresentations during contract negotiations – these undermine the integrity of the government procurement process and unnecessarily cost taxpayers money,” he said.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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