Apple manager pleads not guilty in bribery case

 

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By Stewart Mitchell and Reuters

Posted on 17 Aug 2010 at 10:41

The Apple manager accused of taking kickbacks to provide commercial information to the company's suppliers has pleaded not guilty to the charges in a Californian court.

According to court documents, Paul Shin Devine faces 23 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and accepting kickbacks.

He is accused of accepting $1 million in bribes for providing information that gave suppliers a competitive advantage.

Appearing in court, Devine pleaded not guilty and must now wait until tomorrow to find out if he will be granted bail.

Prosecutors argued that Devine would represent a high risk of fleeing if bail was granted.

Manufacturers investigate

Meanwhile, two Asian manufacturers whose wholly-owned units were accused of paying the kickbacks to get business from Apple have said they are investigating the matter.

Taiwan's Pegatron, the manufacturing unit of netbook PC pioneer Asustek, said it was investigating a case involving Apple and Kaedar, one of the Asian suppliers named in the kickback charges.

Similarly, Singapore's JLJ Holdings, which owns Jin Li Mold Manufacturing, said it too was looking into the matter and confirmed a former Jin Li employee had been named in the indictment along with Devine.