Austrian based International steel company voestalpine AG has admitted an internal audit has discovered that staff had successfully claimed 58 times for visits to brothels in neighboring Germany.

A spokesman for the firm said that the probe was carried out after media reports that a former managing director at the daughter firm Voestalpine Kloeckner Bahntechnik had made brothel visits paid for on expenses.

They added that in total 58 separate expenses claims for the brothels including the Berlin VIP brothel Bel Ami had been found, involving not only the original person mentioned but also four others.

The total value of the claims amounts to EUR 68,000 and four of the staff involved had since left the company and that only one was still working there. The company was exploring ways of recovering the money.

A voestalpine spokesman added that the expenses claims should not have been paid and it was not company policy to allow such claims, and the audit that uncovered the extent of the problem was part of an internal probe to see what had happened and make sure it didn't happen again.

One of the men involved said that the meetings had been to discuss rail track purchase and that also present at the brothels had been rival salesman from ThyssenKrupp, as well as German railways Deutsche Bahn staff and other customers.

Source - Austrian Times

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