Hewlett-Packard will reimburse the Canadian government $105 million (146 million Canadian dollars) to resolve a contractual dispute, but plans legal action to recover the money from the parties it says are responsible, the Palo Alto computer and printer maker said Friday.
Separately, Canada said it is satisfied that HP has fulfilled its contract obligations. The government said it will cooperate with HP in the legal action to retrieve the money. "HP determined that it was important for the company to honor its contractual obligations, rather than engage in protracted litigation with the government of Canada, despite the lack of evidence that HP employees derived any improper benefit from the scheme," HP said in a statement. The case involved an HP Canada contract to provide information technology products and services to Canada"s Department of National Defense (DND), tasks for which HP sometimes enlists subcontractors, spokeswoman Monica Sarkar said. In those situations, HP pays the subcontractor then submits an invoice to the DND.