<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18999">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 28px; OVERFLOW: hidden">
<H5 style="FLOAT: right" class=details>February 1, 2011</H5></DIV>
<DIV class=clear></DIV>
<H1>Kickback suit settled</H1>
<DIV class="details nested grid-8"><SPAN><BR>The Spokesman-Review </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=clear> </DIV>
<DIV class="tag-details details-top"></DIV>
<DIV id=story-body>
<P>Oracle Corp. has agreed to pay $46 million to settle a lawsuit over alleged
kickbacks to win government work. </P>
<P>The Department of Justice charged that Sun Microsystems Inc., which Oracle
bought last year, and other technology companies paid kickbacks to Accenture PLC
for Accenture to recommend that federal agencies buy Sun products. </P>
<P>The Justice Department said last year that the lawsuit covered software
contracts that ran from 1998 to 2006 and were worth hundreds of millions
of dollars. </P>
<P>Six other companies including Hewlett-Packard Co. have settled
similar charges. </P>
<P>The settlement by Oracle’s America unit also resolved claims that Sun
provided incomplete and inaccurate information to government
contracting officers.</P>
<P>_______________________</P>
<P>So let's get this straight: Accenture is hired by our government to
make a recommendation about a software purchase. It then recommends a firm
that bribed it to the tune of at least $46 million dollars for Accenture's
recommendation of their product.</P>
<P>Is this not wonderful or what?</P>
<P>Why haven't criminal charges been rigorously pursued? We are not a
third world country where bribery is the norm, I hope.</P>
<P>This kind of action assures that we continue to treat many criminal acts of
businesses and other large organizations with the policy of "if you get caught,
nothing really bad happens (no criminal charges/penalties/jail time) except you
just have to give back most of the money you stole."</P>
<P> </P></DIV></FONT></DIV><FONT size=2>
<DIV><BR>Wayne A. Fox<BR>1009 Karen Lane<BR>PO Box 9421<BR>Moscow, ID
83843</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="mailto:waf@moscow.com">waf@moscow.com</A><BR>208
882-7975<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>