By Supantha Mukherjee
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – An internal investigation into Scania into its operations in India has found evidence of misconduct by employees, including senior management, the Swedish bus and truck manufacturer said on Wednesday, adding that those involved had all left the company.
The news comes after three media outlets, including the Swedish news channel SVT, reported that Scania had paid bribes to win bus contracts in seven Indian states between 2013 and 2016.
A Scania spokesman said the company, which is part of Volkswagen AG’s commercial vehicle Traton SE, began its internal investigation in 2017. The results have not been announced before.
“This misconduct included alleged bribery, bribery by business partners and misrepresentation,” he said without giving further details.
SVT’s allegations included that Scania had delivered a specially equipped bus to a company with connections to India’s transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, which was intended for his daughter’s wedding and was not paid in full.
“Gadkari and his family have absolutely nothing to do with buying or selling the bus,” Gadkari’s office said in a statement.
“Since the whole episode of the Scania bus is an internal matter of the Swedish company, it would be wise for the media to wait for an official statement by Scania India dealing with the matter,” he said.
The Scania spokesperson said the company did not sell a bus to Gadkari and declined to comment further.
Henrik Henriksson, CEO of Scania, told SVT that the company stopped selling city buses in India and closed its factory there.
“We may have been a little naive, but we really did it … we really wanted to do it in India, but underestimated the risks,” he said.
Henriksson said that any offenders in India who have since left the company, and that all business partners involved have canceled their contracts.
The Scania spokesperson said the police investigation into wrongdoing was not involved.
“While the evidence is sufficient to prove violations in accordance with Scania’s own business codes so that the company can take serious action accordingly, the evidence is not strong enough to lead to prosecution,” the spokesman said.
($ 1 = 8.4990 Swedish kronor)
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Helena Soderpalm in Stockholm. Edited by Rosalba O’Brien and Mark Potter)