微软再陷贿赂案 联邦监管机构启动调查程序
手机之家资讯中心3月20日消息，微软涉嫌向外国政府官员行贿，以换取软件合同和商业合作伙伴关系，美国联邦监管机构的调查已经展开。
美国司法部和证券交易委员会律师正在研究由前微软中国的代表以及其他中国人员和罗马尼亚、意大利的一些经销商和顾问共同对微软提出指控。目前该案已经进入了初步阶段。根据知情人透露，外国政府并没有指责微软或任何其业务的联营公司的不法行为。对此，美国司法部和美国证券交易委员会的发言人拒绝发表评论。
微软副总裁兼副总法律顾问John Frank针对此事说：“像每一个大公司一样，业务遍布世界各地，我们有时会收到员工或业务合作伙伴潜在的不正当行为指控，这很正常。针对政府的调查，我们将会充分合作”。
据国外媒体报道，之前曾有人状告微软中国有人利用给中国官员回扣的形式换取签署软件合同。但合同在2008年突然终止，迫使此人参与了中国的劳资纠纷。也让微软中国的信誉和行业操守受到质疑。
针对此事，微软副总裁兼副总法律顾问John Frank发表了解释和说明，全文如下：
Our Commitment to Compliance
Posted by John Frank
Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft
Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. government is reviewing allegations that Microsoft business partners in three countries may have engaged in illegal activity, and if they did, whether Microsoft played any role in these alleged incidents.
We take all allegations brought to our attention seriously, and we cooperate fully in any government inquiries. Like other large companies with operations around the world, we sometimes receive allegations about potential misconduct by employees or business partners, and we investigate them fully, regardless of the source. We also invest heavily in proactive training, compliance systems, monitoring and audits to ensure our business operations around the world meet the highest legal and ethical standards.
The matters raised in the Wall Street Journal are important, and it is appropriate that both Microsoft and the government review them. It is also important to remember that it is not unusual for such reviews to find that an allegation was without merit. (The WSJ reported earlier this week that an allegation has been made against the WSJ itself, and that, after a thorough investigation, its lawyers have been unable to determine that there was any wrongdoing).
We cannot comment about on-going inquiries, but we would like to share some perspective on our approach to compliance.
We are a global company with operations in 112 countries, nearly 98,000 employees and 640,000 business partners. We’re proud of the role we play in bringing technology to businesses, governments, non-profits and consumers around the world and the economic impact we have in local communities.
As our company has grown and expanded around the world, one of the things that has been constant has been our commitment to the highest legal and ethical standards wherever we do business.
Compliance is the job of every employee at the company, but we also have a group of professionals focused directly on ensuring compliance. We have more than 50 people whose primary role is investigating potential breaches of company policy, and an additional 120 people whose primary role is compliance. In addition, we sometimes retain outside law firms to conduct or assist with investigations. This is a reflection of the size and complexity of our business and the seriousness with which we take meeting our obligations.
We also invest in proactive measures including annual training programs for every employee, regular internal audits and multiple levels of approval for contracting and expenditure.
In a company of our size, allegations of this nature will be made from time to time. It is also possible there will sometimes be individual employees or business partners who violate our policies and break the law. In a community of 98,000 people and 640,000 partners, it isn’t possible to say there will never be wrongdoing. Our responsibility is to take steps to train our employees, and to build systems to prevent and detect violations, and when we receive allegations, to investigate them fully and take appropriate action. We take that responsibility seriously.