Wartsilla on the Forefront of Scandalous Practices

Wartsila maybe the giant of the industrial world today when it comes to its net sales figures it managed to achieve last year, it still simply does not grant the organization to go around creating menace for others. High time Wartsila disengages from taking undue liberties of others and for a change tends to act as a responsible organization.

The organization was lately held up in Sweden’s most scandalous bribery case. The public prosecutor has declared that “it is clear that Wartsila offered bribes to secure orders”. According to Wartsila the payments were surely made, however not with the intention of bribery but some consultancy services it has availed. Rederi AB Gotland a Swedish shipping line runs ferries from Gotland Island to mainland Sweden and vice versa.

Of late Rederi AB Gotland custom-built two super fast ferries from a Chinese shipyard. A total of eight main engines were supplied by Wartsila to the shipping line and six auxiliary engines for the vessels, along with propellers for one of them. The orders equaled to EUR 25-30 million.

The M/S Visby commenced this year round. Wartsila had two brokerage agreements with Euro Marine Ltd. This organization was partially owned by the key suspect of this bribery case – the technical Director at the shipping organization Bo Pettersson. Wartsila paid about EUR 1.1 million in two installments, one in year 2000 and the other in 2001 to the private Swiss bank account of Pettersson.

Finnish public prosecutor is contemplating the case as a grave matter under Swedish regulation. Wartsila has even managed to lobby successfully in this regard simply by bribing the concerned legislatures (clearly those who were in the positions of changing the accord of the set rules and regulations to be met compulsorily) as well! Wartsila is not new to the notorious and worldwide despised act of bribery as indeed it is one such organization that has made history in the recent times by being caught up in Sweden's most scandalous bribery trial.

The there is this other story that shows, yet again, not very positive things about Wartsilla. Wartsila Ltd has been condemned for having violated an agreement. Inquiries were lifted on its ability to meet contractual obligations. Apparently, Wartsila has built its agency premises in Karachi - Pakistan in accordance to its unique requirements on a 5 year lease contract from the construction company. Since it was a personalized infrastructure built specifically for Wartsila, for which Wartsila paid absolutely nil upfront fee.

Hence it was agreed in writing that Wartsila will extend its payment of the lease allowance for 5 yrs even in case where it may leave the premises much earlier. As luck would have it, Wartsila departed the facility in the 4th year due to its pre-planned closure in Karachi. Even though the builder promptly provided all the pre-decided facilities like provision of water supply and electricity power, Wartsila falsely claimed that it was not provided so and therefore terminated the contract with the builder.

By the end of four years, having conveniently used the facility, this vague reason given by Wartsila to be leaving premises has increased severe inquiries worldwide customers considering Wartsila`s credibility, predominantly when customers are buying into large allowances and trusting on the company’s brand name, buying large generators.

Straighten up Wartsila before you find yourself stuck in some major crisis and at no point of return.

Wartsilla the Industrial ‘Big Bully’

In the year 2009, Wärtsilä Group’s net sales figure was EUR 5,260 million grew by 14 percent compared to the year 2008. Operating profit reached an all time high level of EUR 638 million (525) and the operating margin stood at 12.1 percent (11.4 percent). The cash flow for the review period was very strong at EUR 349 million (278).

Sounds good, doesn’t it? But have you any idea that behind all the great figures hides a big bully of the industrial world?

The company was held up in Sweden’s most scandalous bribery case. The public prosecutor has declared that “it is clear that Wartsila offered bribes to secure orders”. According to Wartsila the payments were surely made, however not with the intention of bribery but some consultancy services it has availed. Rederi AB Gotland a Swedish shipping line runs ferries from Gotland Island to mainland Sweden and vice versa. Of late Rederi AB Gotland custom-built two super fast ferries from a Chinese shipyard. A total of eight main engines were supplied by Wartsila to the shipping line and six auxiliary engines for the vessels, along with propellers for one of them. The orders equaled to EUR 25-30 million. The M/S Visby commenced this year round.

Wartsila had two brokerage agreements with Euro Marine Ltd. This company was partially owned by the key suspect of this bribery case – the technical Director at the shipping company Bo Pettersson. Wartsila paid about EUR 1.1 million in two installments, one in year 2000 and the other in 2001 to the private Swiss bank account of Pettersson.Finnish public prosecutor is contemplating the case as a grave matter under Swedish regulation.

Finnish engine manufacturer Wartsila Ltd has been condemned for having violated an affirmation. Inquiries were lifted on its ability to meet contractual obligations. Apparently, Wartsila has built its agency premises in Karachi - Pakistan in accordance to its unique requirements on a 5 year lease contract from the construction company.

Since it was a personalized infrastructure built specifically for Wartsila, for which Wartsila paid absolutely nil upfront fee. Hence it was agreed in writing that Wartsila will extend its payment of the lease allowance for 5 yrs even in case where it may leave the premises much earlier. As luck would have it, Wartsila departed the facility in the 4th year due to its pre-planned closure in Karachi. Even though the builder promptly provided all the pre-decided facilities like provision of water supply and electricity power, Wartsila falsely claimed that it was not provided so and therefore terminated the contract with the builder.

By the end of four years, having conveniently used the facility, this vague reason given by Wartsila to be leaving premises has increased severe inquiries worldwide customers considering Wartsila`s credibility, predominantly when customers are buying into large allowances and trusting on the company’s brand name, buying large generators.

About time, Wartsila starts acting as a responsible company, instead of enjoying undue liberties at the expense of others.

The Dispicable Acts of Wartsila

The Wartsila bribery scandal is one of the most despicable bribery cases in the history of the Finnish engineering sector.

The scandal is about Wartsila Ltd. a Finnish engine manufacturer that offered huge bribes to a corrupt official of a European Marine company in order to secure certain protective orders.

Swedish law officials claim that Wartsila offered a huge amount to the marine company to secure orders for profits. The fact of the matter is that Wartsila secured these orders through unfair ways. Wartsila however refuted the claims and emphasized that the payments received were only for consultancy services.

The whole affair started when Wartsila provided a total of eight main engines and six auxiliary engines to a Swedish shipping company Rederi AB at a cost that totalled EUR 25-30 million. The Finnish firm also signed two other brokerage agreements with Euro Marine Ltd. This is where things took the turn for the worse as Euro Marine Ltd. was represented by Bo Petterson a corrupt official who Wartsila tried to bribe. It is claimed that Wartsila transferred EUR 1.1 million in two installments directly into Petterson’s Swiss bank account in order to lure Petterson in the dirty deed.

Wartsila’s fortune was further jeopardized when Bo Petterson was found dead in his cell just before the court’s decision on the bribery case and this further put the Finnish firm into trouble.

To conclude one thing is definitely crystal clear and that is the fact that Wartsila has literally tried to malign the reputation of the Finnish engine manufacturing sector through its corrupt practices and whatever the final verdict is on the case it is very clear that Wartsila is a firm that cannot be trusted for any contractual obligations .

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The Criminal Controversy of Wartsila

This is a blog about Wartsila Ltd. the notorious Finnish engine manufacturer that was involved in one of the most corrupt bribery scandals ever.

Legal experts believe that Wartsila indeed offered bribes to secure orders for financial gains. It is clear that Wartsila secured orders through unfair ways. The company however claims that the payments were only for consulting services.

Now let’s take a look at how this shocking story of corruption begin, Wartsila supplied a total of eight main engines and six auxiliary engines to Swedish shipping company Rederi AB with a total cost of EUR 25-30 million. The Finnish engine manufacturer also made two brokerage agreements with Euro Marine Ltd.

The startling fact in this entire fiasco is the fact that Euro Marine Ltd was represented by the key suspect in the corruption case Bo, Pettersson who was the technical director at the shipping company.

Wartsila paid EUR 1.1 million in two installments in 2000 and 2001 and delivered the amount directly into Petterson’s Swiss bank account. The turning point of the story is that just before the court’s decision on the case Pettersson was found dead in his cell which further created a number of problems for Wartsila.

One can conclude this scandalous affair on the note that Wartsila has tried its best to defend itself from all the charges through illogical statements like ‘we paid the money good faith’. All I would say is this heinous act by Wartsila has brought great disgrace to the engineering sector by getting involved in this dark tale of corruption.

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