Oracle is reported to be facing an official investigation from FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors, who are seeking to determine whether Oracle allegedly violated anti-bribery laws in certain African countries, The Wall Street Journal reported 31 August.
The WSJ cited anonymous sources for information about the year-long investigation, which has focused on Oracle employees possibly making improper payments related to closing software sales. The unnamed countries in question are located in Western and Central Africa.
Investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are also apparently probing the matter.
An Oracle spokesperson declined a request for comment from eWEEK.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 makes it illegal for certain persons and entities to “make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business.”
In 2010, Alcatel-Lucent agreed to pay $137 million (£84m) in fines related to allegations that it paid bribes in Costa Rica, Taiwan and Kenya.
News of the Oracle investigation leaked on a big day for the Justice Department.
On 31 August, the agency filed an antitrust lawsuit to prevent the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, a division of Deutsche Telekom. The proposed $39 billion (£24bn) merger would have reduced the major carriers in the United States to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, something the latter had protested vigorously in the media and other venues.
“The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers all across the United States facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for mobile wireless services,” Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote in a prepared statement.
Sprint’s own statement on the matter seemed mildly elated: “The DoJ today delivered a decisive victory for consumers, competition and our country. By filing suit to block AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile, the DoJ has put consumers’ interests first.”
Overall, it seems as if Justice is investigating the tech world on multiple fronts. In addition to dealing with a possible government probe, Oracle faces substantial competition from the likes of IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Salesforce and Microsoft.
Suspended prison sentence for Craig Wright for “flagrant breach” of court order, after his false…
Cash-strapped south American country agrees to sell or discontinue its national Bitcoin wallet after signing…
Google's change will allow advertisers to track customers' digital “fingerprints”, but UK data protection watchdog…
Welcome to Silicon In Focus Podcast: Tech in 2025! Join Steven Webb, UK Chief Technology…
European Commission publishes preliminary instructions to Apple on how to open up iOS to rivals,…
San Francisco jury finds Nima Momeni guilty of second-degree murder of Cash App founder Bob…