Alcatel Lucent cuts back on using consultants to find deals

Alcatel Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen has decided to cut back the number of outside consultants the company will use to find customer deals, a practice that has gotten some companies in hot water after the middlemen were found to have given bribes in foreign countries. Indeed, a former Alcatel executive, Christian Sapsizian, pleaded guilty this past September to conspiring with a Costa Rican consultant to send $2.5 million in bribes to get deals with a government-controlled cellular service provider. BusinessWeek Article