A wholesale company and its two chiefs face court trial accused of offering bribes to purchasing manager of a large retailer for every carton of juice sold.
Wholesaler accused of offering bribe
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6th March 2013, 10:00
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The accusation brought by North Regional Prosecutor’s Office, extraordinary in its legal content, can be summed up as follows:
The purchasing manager of a leading retail chain in Estonia ought to have waived claims to additional benefit from AS Haljas on non-alcoholic beverages sold in their stores, and to have further increased assortment of products provided by AS Haljas, thereby boosting the accused company’s turnover.
The alleged offer of bribes consisted in the following: X, one of Haljas’ two board members and the company’s sales-purchases manager Marina Piperal proposed paying the retail chain purchasing manager a certain monthly sum of money.
The size of the bribe would have depended on the sales of products provided by AS Haljas in the chain: the purchasing manager was offered a half to one euro cents on every item sold. In a way, the scheme is not extraordinary for the private sector.
What makes it stand out, however, is that instead of saying a resolute «no» to the bribers, or accepting it from their hand, the purchasing manager told about it to employers. The employer, in its turn, filed to police stating attempt of criminal offence.
It all happened in Tallinn, about half a year ago. Based on the criminal proceedings, corruption crimes bureau of Central Criminal Police collected needed evidence. North Regional Prosecutor’s Office brought charges towards the wholesaler and its top level managers, Mr X and Ms Piperal, for attempt of bribery.
At a Harju County Court hearing, in the middle of February, the procedures were proclaimed to be closed i.e. in camera, to protect the companies’ business secrets. Sworn advocate Maria Mägi-Rohtmets, representing the company in the complicated legal dispute, doesn’t agree to the content of the accusation.
However, the counsel is not willing to further clarify her client’s claim on the case. «As the criminal case is proclaimed closed, the subject cannot be discussed publicly,» she stated laconically. Final judgement in the case will be pronounced in Harju County Court, at a procedure starting in August.