Microsoft data centre at heart of alleged £3m bribery plot
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on Monday raided five properties across London, Kent, Surrey and Somerset and made three arrests, as it launched an international investigation into suspected corruption over construction of the site.
Officials have accused individuals at Kent-based construction firm Blu-3 of paying more than £3m in bribes to former associates of larger rival Mace Group in relation to the construction of a Microsoft data centre in the Netherlands.
On Wednesday, more than 70 SFO staff searched four homes and one commercial property to gather evidence as part of the investigation. Authorities in Monaco also searched one of the suspect's properties in the region.
Nick Ephgrave, SFO director, said: 'Paying bribes to do business undermines our financial markets, the reputation of British companies and the rule of law and will not be tolerated.
'Today's action is a reminder that we will take rapid and robust action to tackle suspected bribery and corruption wherever it appears – at home and overseas.'
Data centres, which are used to store and process data, are experiencing rapid growth, driven by huge increases in demand from areas such as cloud computing and streaming.
This is expected to accelerate further due to the vast troves of data required to power artificial intelligence.
Microsoft operates more than 300 data centres in more than 34 countries worldwide, including its large facility in the Hollands Kroon area in the north of the Netherlands.
It has previously unveiled plans to invest £2.5bn in Britain, including the construction of a new data centre in North London and expansion of computer capacity in Cardiff.
The boom has fuelled a wave of work for construction companies, who are racing to cash in on lucrative construction projects.
However, plans for large new data centres risk sparking anger from local residents.
Earlier this month, Angela Rayner was accused of 'annihilating' the green belt through a £3.75bn government-backed plan to build Europe's largest data centre in Hertfordshire.
A spokesman for Mace Group said: 'Mace has a zero tolerance approach to breaches of our code of ethics, and takes any allegations of bribery extremely seriously.
'We are committed to fully supporting the Serious Fraud Office in investigating allegations against any former associates of the group.'
Microsoft declined to comment. Blu-3 has been contacted for comment.
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