Reuters
Britain has opened a formal
investigation into suspicions of corruption at British American
Tobacco (BAT) <BATS.L> and its subsidiaries, nearly two years
after allegations of bribery in Africa first surfaced.
The world's largest international tobacco company said in a
statement it intended to cooperate with the investigation but
did not provide further details. [nFWN1KM15B]
"The SFO confirms it is investigating suspicions of
corruption in the conduct of business by BAT p.l.c., its
subsidiaries and associated persons," Britain's Serious Fraud
Office (SFO) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The maker of brands including Dunhill and Lucky Strike said
in February last year it had appointed a law firm to investigate
allegations of historic misconduct in Africa and that it was
liaising with the SFO.
BAT said then it was aware of some of the allegations and
had looked into them, but was bringing in outside lawyers given
the number and nature of the allegations and its zero tolerance
of corruption anywhere in the world.
The 2016 move came after a November 2015BBC programme
described cases of BAT employees bribing officials in East
African countries including Rwanda and Burundi in an effort to
undermine anti-smoking laws. The BBC cited internal documents
provided by whistleblowing former employee Paul Hopkins.
Spokeswomen for BAT and the SFO declined to say which
countries were covered by the investigation.
Earlier this year, BAT said it had created a board
subcommittee to monitor matters relating to the investigation
between board meetings. It also said it had started a project in
2016 to review and strengthen its global compliance procedures.
BAT initially appointed law firms Linklaters and Slaughter
and May to investigate the allegations of misconduct and is now
just working with the latter.
Shares in BAT, which tumbled 12 percent in the previous two
sessions following a proposal by the U.S. government to cut
nicotine in cigarettes, were 1 percent higher at 1039
GMT.[nL1N1KJ0WL]
The London-based company last week unseated Marlboro maker
Philip Morris International <PM.N> as the world's largest
international tobacco firm, following its $49 billion takeover
of Reynolds American.
The world's biggest tobacco company is state-owned China
National Tobacco Corporation.