By Cecilia Butini


Vonovia SE said Tuesday that it would start an independent investigation and press charges against suspects in what appears to be, according to the chief executive, a bribery case.

"It appears that individual employees at our subsidiaries have accepted bribes to the detriment of Vonovia - that is not acceptable," said Chief Executive Rolf Buch. "We are shocked," he added.

The German real-estate company said it has appointed auditing firm Deloitte to conduct an independent investigation. It added that it has already taken initial personnel measures and will press charges against suspects.

Earlier on Tuesday, the company said that prosecutors had raided its offices to look into how its contracts were awarded. Public prosecutors had inspected company documents after allegations that individual employees had engaged in problematic practices over awarding contracts to subcontractors, the company said.


Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-07-23 1317ET