Diebold Inc. has been fined by the Securities & ExchangeCommission for allegedly bribing officials at government-ownedbanks in China and Indonesia to buy the firm's ATMs.

The North Canton, Ohio, company has agreed to pay $48 million tosettle the charges, the SEC said in an Oct. 22 announcement.

SEC charged the firm under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Actwhich bars U.S. firms from bribing officials in foreign nations,among other things

According to court documents filed by the regulator, Diebold'sbribes were often in the form of free trips to popular touristdestinations in the U.S., including the Grand Canyon, Napa Valley,Disneyland, and Universal Studios as well as Las Vegas, New YorkCity, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Hawaii.

The regulator also charged officials were treated to Europeanvacations, such as eight officials from a Chinese bank who took atwo-week trip at Diebold's expense that included stays in Paris,Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna,Klagenfurt, Venice, Florence and Rome. Destinations of leisuretrips for other officials included Australia, New Zealand andBali.

All told, the SEC charged Diebold spent $1.8 million on thebribes and then entered them on its books in a way that was meantto hide the expenditures, the SEC said.

“A bribe is a bribe, whether it's a stack of cash or anall-expense-paid trip to Europe,” said Scott W. Friestad, anassociate director in the SEC's Division of Enforcement. “Publiccompanies must be held accountable when they break the law toinfluence government officials with improper payments orgifts.”