Building company Ballast Nedam has reached a €5m out of court settlement with the public prosecution service to head off prosecution for bribery.

Ballast Nedam is suspected of paying bribes to deal brokers abroad between 1996 and 2003. The issue was first raised by the tax office in 2009 and Ballast Nedam approached the public prosecutor with the results of its internal inquiry in 2011.
The claims were then investigated and Ballast Nedam cooperated fully, the public prosecution department said in a statement. The company’s own compliance procedures have since been improved.