IBM Scrutinized In MoscowIBM Scrutinized In Moscow

An armed special forces team from Russia's Interior Ministry swept through IBM's offices in central Moscow last week, seizing documents and gathering other evidence. No arrests were made, and IBM says its operations in the city "are continuing uninterrupted."

The ministry is investigating what it says is a $4 million computer equipment kickback scheme involving IBM employees, employees at Russia's national pension fund, and staffers at IBM local partners R-Style and Lanit.

Russia is increasingly important to IBM as both a tech market and a source of programming talent, so lasting damage to its reputation there could prove costly.