The Moscow city government intends to send a letter to German auto giant Daimler AG requesting it refute allegations that officials were involved in corrupt deals, a source in the city's administration said on Thursday.
Daimler was fined $185 million by a U.S. court in late March after admitting to paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to foreign governments over a ten-year period. Russia is on a list of 22 countries in which bribes were allegedly paid by the company in return for securing lucrative contracts for officials for the purchase of Daimler vehicles.
"Some Russian and foreign media cited sources in Mercedes-Benz Russia as saying that Daimler AG paid bribes to officials in Russian state bodies (or their known intermediaries) for support in the acquisition of the company's limousines, including for Moscow City authorities," the letter says.
The document, which was signed by the press secretary of the Moscow Mayor's Office, says the claims could not be true since "there is not a single Mercedes-Benz car in the fleet of the Moscow government."
"We ask you either to confirm on the basis of actual evidence the involvement of Moscow city bodies in corrupt transactions, or officially refute such information on behalf of Mercedes-Benz," the letter says.
MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti)
