Microsoft Corporation says it is continuing to improve trust between its customers and partners, in response to the charges issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Microsoft earlier agreed to pay US$16.6 million (about 512 million baht) to settle a charge brought against it by the US SEC over kickbacks to government officials, paid out by its executives in Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Turkey.
"We were embarrassed when we first learned about these events several years ago and we hope that all of the steps we have since taken, including this settlement, send a strong message, that as a company, we do not tolerate employees and partners who willfully violate policies that go to fundamental issues of business integrity," said the company, which also noted it had fired four Microsoft Hungary employees and terminated relationships with the resellers involved in the misconduct.
"The bottom line is that we're committed to earning and keeping trust with our customers, partners, and governments around the world. We will continue to learn from these issues and continue to work on getting better," the company said in a statement.
According to the US SEC's document on administrative proceeding, file no. 3-19260, the gifts and travel were given to employees of Microsoft's non-government banking customers in Thailand.
"Between January 2013 and April 2015, an MS Thailand employee along with an employee of MS Thailand LSP provided more than $100,000 in gifts and travel to employees of non-government banking customers while MS Thailand was engaged in business with the end customers," the document said.
"Specifically, an employee of a MS Thailand LSP established an account funded through discounts provided by Microsoft on transactions, ostensibly to pay for training MS Thailand end customers on Microsoft's software,
"However, instead of using the money for training, the MS Thailand employee and the MS Thailand LSP employee used the proceeds to purchase technology equipment and pay for travel for employees of MS Thailand's non-government end customers.
As part of this scheme, the MS Thailand employee would direct the MS Thailand LSP employee to submit a false purchase order for "training" to one of MS Thailand's training vendors. The vendors would submit an invoice in connection with the purchase order that would then be paid from the training account held at the LSP," the document said.
Meanwhile, a source at the Thai SEC said it will have to evaluate whether the case involves information that is legal to disclose, if the NACC requests that information. The US SEC has expressed its appreciation of the SEC's response to its previous request for information on the case.