Coatings firm Hempel has fired four employees over a bribery scandal in Germany.
In a statement, Hempel said the German authorities were investigating whether alleged bribes had been made by some of its staff to ship managers in Germany.
In reaction to the investigations Hempel has already dismissed four employees in Germany with immediate effect and warns that there could be further dismissals to come.
The coatings firm has engaged an independent external law firm to conduct an internal audit of Hempel Germany.
“Unfortunately, Hempel must acknowledge that contrary to expectations, practices that apparently do not comply with the German legislation have been identified,” Group CEO of Hempel, Henrik Andersen, said.
“These are practices connected to the relationship between Hempel Germany, ship managers and shipowners. Hempel deeply regrets that in some instances, internal rules have been deliberately circumvented and German law might not have been followed,” he added.
The company said it had made a changes to processes and implemented initiatives to ensure future compliance with German law.
“We do not tolerate and do not accept illegal practices. We consider the offences to be an attack on our customers, Hempel’s culture and values and with that an attack on our approx. 6,000 responsible and committed employees worldwide,” Andersen said.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.