Russia accuses IBM of theft

Russia’s Interior Ministry accused executives of IBM Corp. on Thursday of stealing money from the country’s $57-billion pension fund.

IBM local executives conspired with others from the pension fund and two software companies to rig auctions and embezzle some of the 1 billion rubles, or $38 million, allocated to the fund for new computers, the ministry said on its website. It didn’t identify the executives or say how much was stolen.

“A number of pension fund executives responsible for conducting competitions to purchase equipment entered into a criminal agreement” with executives at IBM and software companies ZAO R-Style Co. and ZAO Lanit, the ministry said.

Russian investigators raided IBM’s Moscow offices Wednesday, the company said, as part of a national crackdown on corruption ordered by President Vladimir V. Putin.

The accusation comes a month after IBM announced plans to expand into 20 more Russian cities.

IBM’s business in the country has quadrupled since 2002, and the company said it had about 20% of the market for server computers and 12% of the software market.

IBM is “cooperating with Russian law enforcement,” spokeswoman Galina Danilina said.