Kron of Alstom
Presidente da Alstom vem ao Brasil e defende empresa de acusações de corrupção: “Alstom president travels to Brazil and defends his firm against corruption accusations.”
Valor Econômico reports today. Also announced was today was the signing of a R$750 million contract with the São Paulo subway system for automated systems of some kind on Lines 1, 2, and 3 (we live quite near the 2 line, just like in Brooklyn, but it is not quite the same thing).
I translate an excerpt.
SÃO PAULO – O presidente mundial da francesa Alstom, Patrick Kron, disse ao Valor que uma auditoria interna realizada pela empresa não constatou indícios de pagamentos de propinas ou de corrupção, mas que, se a Justiça suíça encontrar algo, tomará as medidas cabíveis. “Fomos condenados sem termos sido julgados”, disse Kron. “Não encontramos desvios ou infrações nos contratos, inclusive nos do Brasil”, explicou o francês.
The global president of French contractor Alstom, Patrick Kron, told Valor that an internal audit conducted by Alstom found no signs of bribery or corruption, but that if the Swiss authorities found something, he will take the appropriate measures. “We have been convicted without a trial,” Kron said. “We found no misconduct or infractions in the contracts, including those in Brazil,” he explained.
O executivo esteve brevemente no país para fechar contratos nas áreas de transportes metroviários e eletricidade. Também aproveitou para manter contatos com funcionários e com órgãos de imprensa a fim de esclarecer a posição da Alstom frente às acusações de que a companhia pagou suborno no passado para conseguir contratos. “A empresa não pretende nem um pouco renunciar às suas responsabilidades”, disse Kron, na primeira entrevista sobre o assunto desde que a investigação se tornou pública, há cerca de dois meses.
The French executive was in Brazil briefly to close deals in the areas of subway transportation and electricity. He also used the occasion to meet with employees and local news organizations to explain Alstom’s position with respect to accusations that it paid bribes in the past in order to obtain contracts. “The company does not intend to shirk its responsibilities, not in the least,” Kron said, in his first interview on the subject since the investigation was made public some two months ago.
Granting an exclusive interview to a paper that does not ask any hard questions of anyone, ever — Valor is very attractively designed, has a very complete and well-organized business news line-up, but it is basically a press-release newswire with opinion pages — is not the most ballsy way to handle the situation.
But hey, if it works, it works.
And the appeal to due process and fair play would have been my recommendation as well, were I the company’s crisis communications team leader.
Because on the other hand, the Swiss investigation, which is ongoing, was leaked to the yellow press here with such cheerful, heedless abandon after that information was shared with Brazilian law enforcement that the Swiss simply stopped sharing information, according to a recent report in CartaCapital magazine.
- São Paulo Cabbie Joke of the Week: “Geraldo Alstom”
- Leak Journalism Plagues Alstom Investigation in Brazil
Segundo ele, há um inquérito judicial em andamento na Suíça, com apoio da Justiça francesa, e o juiz só deve concluí-lo nas próximas semanas. ” Neste exato momento, nenhum dirigente atual ou passado da Alstom foi indiciado ou considerado culpado de coisa alguma. Fizemos uma auditoria interna e o que posso adiantar é que os resultados obtidos até aqui não confirmam a história (…) de que a Alstom teria montado um esquema de corrupção para conseguir contratos ” , disse o presidente na sexta-feira pela manhã.
According to Kron, a judicial investigation is underway in Switzerland, with support from French law enforcement, and the judge will not conclude his labors for several more weeks.
“At this precise moment, no current or past executive of Alstom has been indicted for or found guilty of anything. We did an internal audit and I can tell you that the results obtained so far do not confirm the story … according to which Alstom engaged in a corrupt scheme in order to get contracts,” the Alstom chief executive said Friday morning.
Valor now briefly reprises the case, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, then repeats that Kron said that an internal audit found nothing of the kind and that it is unfair to prejudge the case until the official inquiry concludes.
The way this story is going, I expect we will see Valor repeat that point again before it’s over. Possibly more than once.
Durante a entrevista ao Valor, o presidente da Alstom deu claros sinais de que está preocupado com a repercussão da investigação suíça sobre corrupção e com a forma que isso pode afetar os negócios da companhia. ” Não quero que nossos clientes pensem que vão se arriscar tendo negociações com a Alstom. Felizmente, há exemplos que provam que isso não está acontecendo ” , comentou Kron. Ele defende que a Alstom seja tratada de maneira justa e equilibrada, ” baseada em fatos, e não em alegações .”
During the interview with Valor, the executive gave clear signals that he is concerned about the consequences of the investigation and how it might affect the company’s business. “I do not want our clients think they are taking a risk doing business with us,” he said. “Fortunately, there are examples that show that this is not the case.” He argues that Alstom should be treated in a fair and balanced manner, “based on facts, not allegations.”
I take that as a veiled reference to (1) the internal audit and (2) the lynch-mob journalism to which it has been subjected. Shall we count that as one-half of a repetition?
Kron ressaltou que a Alstom está no Brasil há 50 anos e que emprega 4 mil pessoas no país. “Vamos continuar participando do desenvolvimento do país”, garantiu. Nesse sentido, a multinacional fechou um contrato de 280 milhões de euros com o Metrô de São Paulo para fornecer o sistema de controle automatizado para as linhas 1, 2 e 3 – o maior projeto de sinalização já conquistado pela Alstom, segundo o executivo.
Kron emphasized that Alstom has been in Brazil for 50 years and employees 4,000 workers here. “We are going to continue contributing to the development of this country.” To that end, the company closed a deal worth 280 million with the São Paulo subway system to supply it with an automated control system for lines 1, 2 and 3 — the largest signaling project Alstom has ever done, the executive said.
Possibly not the best example of cloudless skies and aboveboard business: The new projects manager for the subway system? The mayor’s brother. Seriously. His other brother was appointed as a senior official at SPTrans, the city bus authority. Seriously.
And then Valor goes on to describe a hydroelectric project in Rondônia.
Okay, so I was wrong: the internal audit — which at one point he seems to suggest is also incomplete (”we have found nothing so far …”) — was not mentioned again. Not directly, anway.
It is only mentioned four times, all above the fold, towards the top of the story, while “fair play and due process” is mentioned about four times as well, by my count. Which is a lot for a short item of, say, six paragraphs.
Filed under: Uncategorized
