No Thais Known to Have Accepted Bribes in Airport Scanner Deal

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- A U.S. Justice Department inquiry has found no evidence that an American company bribed Thai officials to secure a contract to provide airport security equipment, the U.S. Embassy said on Saturday.

The findings will likely ease pressure on Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who earlier this month challenged the American company, InVision Technologies Inc., to either deny it had paid his government bribes - or lose the deal altogether.

''The investigation did not find that any Thai government official had received any improper payment or accepted any offer of improper payment from InVision or any agent or consultant,'' the Bangkok Post newspaper reported Saturday, citing a U.S. Embassy briefing.

A U.S. embassy spokesman told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that the articles printed in the local press Saturday were accurate, but declined to comment further.

The embassy's declaration supports what Thaksin told the media more than a week ago based on information from the U.S. ambassador, said government spokesman Chalermdej Chompunut.

At issue was InVision's sale of 26 baggage screening machines to the Thai government for Bangkok's new international airport, due to start operating next year.

An investigation by General Electric Co., which was considering buying InVision at the time, turned up evidence suggesting that agents or distributors for the company had paid or offered to pay foreign officials to secure that sale, as well as other deals in China and the Philippines.

General Electric gave that information to U.S. federal authorities, fearing that such payments breached U.S. laws banning bribery to secure foreign contracts.

To avoid prosecution, InVision paid a fine to the U.S. government and agreed not to sell the machines to Thailand through its original distributor.

U.S. investigators had turned up no evidence that Thai officials had received bribes, the Bangkok Post cited the embassy official as saying on Friday.

''This is primarily a story about a U.S. company that violated U.S. law. The Thai government was never a subject or never suspected in this investigation,'' the Bangkok Post quoted an embassy official, who requested anonymity, as saying.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into the scandal is ongoing.

InVision was acquired in December 2004 by General Electric and now operates under the name GE InVision Inc.