$9.5 Million Fine|for Bribing Saudis

WASHINGTON (CN) – Oregon-based FLIR Systems, which makes security equipment, bribed Saudi Arabian government officials to get contracts from which it made $7 million, the SEC claims in court.     FLIR will pay $9.5 million to settle the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, the SEC said.     While it was paying the bribes, FLIR was under a 2002 cease-and-desist order from a settled accounting fraud case, according to the new cease-and-desist order, issued Wednesday.     It gave Saudi Arabia Ministry of Interior officials a 20-day “world tour” at luxury hotels, other foreign vacations, watches, alcohol and other gifts, and used a “false cover story” to duck honest accounting, the SEC says.