REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft is entangled in a U.S. government investigation into whether the software maker and some of its business partners resorted to bribery to close deals in China, Romania and Italy, according to a report published Tuesday.

Citing anonymous people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal said the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining whether kickbacks were paid to foreign officials to help close sales of software. The probe’s targets include resellers of Microsoft software, company consultants and Microsoft’s own employees outside the U.S., according to the Journal.

The newspaper emphasized that the inquiry remains in an early stage and there have been no accusations of wrongdoing.

In a blog post, Microsoft lawyer John Frank said the issues raised in the Journal’s story are important enough to merit a review by the Redmond, Wash., company and the federal government.

“We take all allegations brought to our attention seriously, and we cooperate fully in any government inquiries,” wrote Frank, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel.

Both the Justice Department and the SEC declined to comment.

Advertisement

The reported investigation poses another potential legal headache for Microsoft, which has been sparring with government regulators in the U.S. and Europe for the past two decades.

Most of the regulatory battles have been over whether Microsoft abused its position as the leading maker of personal computer software to thwart competition.

Microsoft suffered its latest setback in that regulatory arena earlier this month when European regulators fined the company $733 million. Microsoft violated an agreement to provide users of PCs running on its Windows operating system with an alternative to its Internet Explorer Web browser.

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.