US judge fines HP $63.62 million

A judge has ordered US computer giant Hewlett-Packard to pay $US58.8 million ($A63.62 million) for bribing Russian government officials to win a big-money contract with the prosecutor general's office. Northern California US District Judge Lowell Jensen hit HP with the fine after the company pleaded guilty to violating anti-bribery and accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the US Department of Justice said in a release. According to a negotiated plea bargain, executives in an HP Russia subsidiary created a multi-million-dollar slush fund, from which money was used to bribe Russian officials who awarded the company a $US45 million contract with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russia, according to skynews.com