Motorola Solutions responds to bribery reports

Schaumburg-based Motorola Solutions Inc. said Tuesday it is enforcing a “strong code of conduct” and has ethics and compliance programs already in place after stories surfaced in The Wall Street Journal and Austrian news magazine Profil this week involving an ongoing investigation into possible bribes to overseas officials.

“When appropriate, the company makes voluntary disclosures to the U.S. government and takes corrective action,” Motorola Solutions spokesman Nick Sweers said. He added that any company that does frequent business with the government “undergoes audits and investigations periodically.”

Officials at the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission have asked the company for information about transactions in seven European countries, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday based on unnamed sources. The Austrian news magazine, Profil, said the SEC had opened a probe into the company’s dealings with an Austrian lobbyist. The media firms reported that the government is searching for evidence Motorola Solutions, which makes two-way radios and systems for police, fire and other public-safety organizations, may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The law bars U.S. companies and their agents from offering bribes to foreign government officials.

The investigation began in 2009 after the company opened its own internal investigation into possible breaches of antibribery laws and alerted U.S. authorities, people familiar with the matter told the Journal. In 2009, Motorola Inc. was in existence, but was spun off into two publicly traded companies in January.