Sun Microsystems said it may have broken anti-bribery laws due
to some of its activity outside the US.
If the company is found to have broken these laws it could face
heavy fines and be barred from working with the US government,
where it has a lot of contracts.
The software company is currently being acquired by Oracle but
the revelation introduces some uncertainty.
Alcatel-Lucent had to pay a $2.5m fine because Lucent had broken
these laws before it was acquired it in 2006. Lucent had illegally
paid for trips for potential customers in China.
Oracle, which is
buying Sun Microsystems for more than $7bn said it found out
about the situation before signing its agreement to buy Sun.
According to Reuters, Sun said in a filing with the US
Securities and Exchange Commission, "We have identified potential
violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the resolution of
which could possibly have a material effect on our business.
"The outcome of these, or any future matters, cannot be
predicted."
Sun's acquisition by Oracle will give it access to strategically
important Java and Solaris technologies, which underpin the Oracle
database.
"Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated
system - applications to disc - where all the pieces fit and work
together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Our
customers benefit, as their systems integration costs go down while
system performance, reliability and security go up," said Oracle
CEO Larry Ellison.