The OEM is being scrutinised by a Government Procurement Agency in New Zealand after irregularities showed up in its subsidiary’s accounts.
Stuff.co reported that the Serious Fraud Office are waiting for any “new information” concerning a subsidiary of Fuji Xerox that showed accounting “irregularities” that could cause NZ$285 million (US$200/€184 million) losses.
The OEM has been paid in excess of NZ$55 million (US$36/€35 million) for government contacts since 2012 and it is reported that it is the agency responsible for their procurement that is investigating the company.
An “independent investigation committee” has been set up by FujiFilm Holdings who are reviewing the suitability of the accounting process at Fuji Xerox New Zealand and Winston Peters, First Leader for New Zealand said that the government needed to be sure “taxpayers aren’t being ripped off”.
Kenji Sukeno, President FujiFilm, said: “The cumulative impact of FXNZ’s accounting practices on past several fiscal years’ net income as identified to date in the investigation by the internal investigation committee is estimated as a loss of approximately 22 billion yen (NZ$285/US$200/€184 million)”.
Simon Bridges, Economic Development Minister, commented that he was “confident with the procurement practices” however Peters is not so confident and has put pressure on the government to investigate which is why the Audit Office was called in.
Peters said in a statement: “At stake is something very serious because our inquiries reveal such serious concerns with Fuji Xerox that it could involve corruption. It now seems that the parent company in Japan suspects the same thing because we all know what ‘accounting irregularities’ is really short code for.”
Fuji Xerox declined to comment on the “corruption claims” but documents have been delivered that show the company has been awarded more than competitors Ricoh, Konica Minolta and Canon have.
A spokesperson from the company said that “it welcomed the investigation and was co-operating fully” and Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific gave its full support to the company as its shareholder.