Vodafone Cleared of Bribery in Mannesmann Takeover

German prosecutors who have been investigating corruption allegations regarding Vodafone's takeover of Mannesmann have cleared Vodafone's Chief Executive Sir Chris Gent of any wrong doing. The investigation had heated up after the German union boss Klaus Zwickel had claimed that the continuing payment of a "performance reward" that was already due to Mannesmann board members had been agreed by Sir Chris Gent in a private phone call. However, it has now come to light that Klaus Zwickel was at the board meeting where the payments were discussed in full, and that he actually signed the minutes of the meeting. As the payments had already been agreed before the takeover attempt, and Vodafone had simply agreed to honour the existing agreement, the allegations of bribery and corruption have been dropped."

Posted to the site on 11th September 2001