It is with utter shock and dismay I read about Hitachi being targeted in a U.S. regulatory report for bribing the financial front of the African National Congress ("Hitachi to settle for $19 million charge over South Africa power plant 'fees' " in the Sept. 30 edition) to get big contracts at the Medupi and Kusile power generation plants.
The projects are overdue by years mainly because of corrupt tender practices, we have constant load shedding due to inefficient generating capacity and we have suffered massive losses of billions of dollars in our economy, and Hitachi is part of it.
Every month that I pay my electricity bill here, part of it goes back to Hitachi on a contract they accessed fraudulently, and of course to the guys at the ANC front company, in breach of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
My question is this: Will the Japanese government do the honorable thing and commence investigating Hitachi for breach of the convention and ban it from all ODA projects until its name is cleared, or will Tokyo turn a blind eye and be a partner to rampant corruption?
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.
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