Robert Hallet, the former managing director of Alstom Transport India, is set to appear at a London court on Monday charged with two counts of corruption. The charges against Hallett will be set out at the ‘sending’ hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court, marking the formal transfer of the case to the Crown Court. No trial date has been set yet. A spokesperson for the Serious Fraud Office confirmed that Hallett was facing two counts of corruption.

The Serious Fraud Office has been looking into corruption allegations at a subsidiary of French industrial group Alstom for the past four years. It has launched a prosecution against Alstom Network UK Ltd relating to infrastructure contracts for the New Delhi Metro, and tram systems in Warsaw and Tunis. So far, six charges have been brought against the subsidiary (two for each country) relating to alleged corrupt practices between June 1, 2000 and November 30, 2006, with alleged payments totalling €6.6 million.

According to the charge-sheet against the company, Alstom Network UK Ltd and its directors “corruptly” paid ₹19,895,000 in 2001 to a company called Indo European Ventures Pte Ltd, disguised as payments relating to a Consultancy Agreement, and paid €3.13 million to Global King Technology Ltd in May 2002, under a similar guise. These payments were meant to be “inducements for showing favour” to Alstom for a contract for a train control signalling and telecommunication system for Delhi Metro, the requisition document said.

Unlike the other countries where some individuals are named - including a former deputy Mayor of Warsaw, and the brother-in-law of a former President of Tunisia - the names of the Indian officials have not be revealed by prosecutors. The case against the company is set to continue on January 28. Further prosecutions are planned relating to projects in Lithuania and Hungary.

Earlier this month, the Serious Fraud Office announced that it is preparing prosecutions against two other former Alstom executives, Bruno Kaelin and Graham Hill, both of whom are in continental Europe. An SFO spokesperson declined to comment on developments relating to them. The investigation into Alstom subsidiaries spans several countries. In July, the former senior executive of a US subsidiary of Alstom pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to pay bribes for the award of a power project in Indonesia.

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