[Updated] Motorola Investigation Launched, Source Reports

An Austrian news weekly reported a few days ago that U.S. enforcement authorities are investigating an Austrian lobbyist and Motorola over alleged bribes to government officials, according to an AFP story.

"From April 2004 onwards, Motorola apparently transferred up to €2.2 million ($3.12 million) to three firms controlled by lobbyist Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly," the report said.

Motorola's agent, Mensdorff-Pouilly, then allegedly used the money to make "illegal payments" to key political figures in Europe and the Middle East, it said.

Mensdorff-Pouilly, 58, was charged in 2010 by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office in connection with the BAE case. The charges were later dropped. The Austrian aristocrat was reportedly awarded €430,000 in compensation for the week he spent in custody in the U.K.

A German-language Wikipedia entry alleges a possible link between Mensdorff-Pouilly and the Siemens bribery scandal. The prosecutor's office in Vienna, the entry says, examined Mensdorff-Pouilly's 2007 work for Siemens as a consultant for part of a Hungarian truck toll project. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Motorola was in a consortium with Telekom Austria, which was separately accused of other corrupt payments and is the subject of investigations in Austria.

The report said the SEC is investigating Motorola's alleged role.

Motorola Inc., based in Schaumburg, Illinois, changed its name  in January to Motorola Solutions, Inc.

Motorola Solutions, Inc. trades on the NYSE under the symbol MSI.

Our thanks to the reader who sent the link to the story.

Former BAE Agent Charged For Bribes

Austrian national Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly: BAE's agent has been charged in Britain with corruption but his prosecution still needs approval from the U.K.'s attorney general.The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office on Friday charged one of BAE's former middlemen, Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, with bribery in connection with arms sales to countries in Eastern and Central Europe. He was formally accused of "conspiracy to corrupt, contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977."

The SFO alleged that Mensdorff-Pouilly, 56, conspired with others from 2002 though 2008 to bribe government officials and representatives from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria. The bribes were intended to secure contracts from those governments for the sale of SAAB/Gripen fighter jets marketed by BAe Systems plc.

David Leigh and Rob Evans, the investigative journalists from the Guardian who first reported BAE's alleged corrupt selling practices nearly five years ago, said Friday that Mensdorff-Pouilly's prosecution still needs approval from Britain's attorney general, Lady Scotland. Mensdorff-Pouilly lives in Luising, Austria and is an Austrian citizen. The attorney general hasn't yet agreed to let the case proceed, the SFO's lawyers said, and they asked the court for a month-long adjournment while she decides. 

These are the first criminal charges arising from the investigation of BAE's practices.

The SFO dropped an investigation in December 2006 into allegations the company bribed members of the Saudi Arabian government in exchange for the sale of Typhoon jet fighters. The SFO said it had to abandon the case after Saudi Arabia threatened to end anti-terrorism cooperation with the British government.

The U.S. Justice Department is reportedly still investigating BAE's payments of about $2 billion to Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan. He was formerly ambassador to the United States and some of the payments allegedly passed through U.S. bank accounts he controlled.

The SFO on Friday said its current investigation of BAE has involved collaboration with the Vienna (Austria) Prosecution Office (Staatsanwaltschaft Wien) and police (Bundeskriminalamt) and was coordinated with help from Eurojust. The SFO said it also had help from Czech, Hungarian and Swiss authorities.

View a copy of the Serious Fraud Office's January 29, 2010 release here.