Suit alleges US firm bribed CCB chaiman

Beijing-based Grace & Digital Information Technology has filed a lawsuit in the US, alleging that US-based Fidelity National Financial Inc paid a $1 million bribe in 2002 to the recently departed chairman of China Construction Bank in order to win software contracts worth more than US$175, the Wall Street Journal reported. Fidelity denied the charge while the bank's chairman, Zhang Enzhao, resigned abruptly March 16 amid an investigation of the bank's IT equipment purchases, which comes ahead of the bank's planned IPO worth up to US$10bn. The suit alleged that the president of Alltel Information Services, which Fidelity bought in 2003, schemed to freeze out Grace of of software work, the Journal reported. Fidelity National Financial is not related to the US mutual fund company Fidelity Investment.