Slush funds, money laundering, bags of cash and corruption have been revealed as Hewlett Packard’s weapons of choice for invading new markets.

The global technology giant has been charged $108 million by the US Government for years of dodgy dealing across three countries.

The company has admitted to some of the bribery and other charges, but no criminal charges have been brought up.

Hewlett Packard has engaged in deep corporate misbehaviour to secure lucrative contracts with officials in Russia, Poland and Mexico.

HP was found to have siphoned money from itself by modifying internal controls, creating a slush fund of about $10 million in its Russian subsidiary.

The money was used for bribes to curry favour for a $48 million technology contract that HP ultimately won.

The vast majority of the cash was laundered through off-shore bank accounts, according to court documents. It was ultimately deposited into shell accounts, some directly held by Russian officials.

The officials were found to have used the laundered money on lavish travel expenditure, jewellery, cars, and other luxury goods.

A similar case in Poland, where HP again siphoned money into a secret account that was used to grease the wheels on a $32 million deal it secured in the 2007.

Polish executive were taken on an extravagant trip around the US, including stops in San Francisco and Las Vegas, as well as a private flight over the Grand Canyon paid for in cash by HP.

Polish executives were routinely handed “bags of cash” when they visited the United States.

And in Mexico they did it again, pitching bribes to ensure that HP’s “business technology software, hardware, and licenses” were sold to the state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, for about $6 million.

In this case, HP executives used an unnamed Mexican consulting firm to funnel money via a third party, through the consulting firm, and into the pockets of the Pemex executives.

The U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission allowed HP to settle the dispute for $108 million.

Both U.S. agencies charged “the company or its units” with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law to stop U.S. firms from paying bribes to foreign governments.

“Hewlett-Packard subsidiaries created a slush fund for bribe payments ... employed two sets of books to track bribe recipients, and used anonymous email accounts and prepaid mobile telephones to arrange covert meetings to hand over bags of cash,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz said in announcing the settlement.

No US criminal charges have been laid, but HP says it has fired the “small number” of executives responsible.

Polish authorities have criminally charged some HP workers and government officials, but there is no word on similar efforts in the US, Mexico or Russia.

The computer company says it co-operated fully once the charges were raised.