Balfour Beatty says found no evidence of gas contract corruption

LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - British infrastructure company Balfour Beatty (Other OTC: BAFYY - news) said it had found no evidence of systematic bribery or corruption in an investigation into alleged "inappropriate activity" involving a 480 million pound contract awarded by National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) .

The company, which suspended three managers earlier this month, said on Thursday it had launched a six-month investigation after receiving an anonymous letter which alleged individuals were getting payments in return for giving work to subcontractors.

Balfour Beatty is carrying out gas pipeline replacement work in the West Midlands and the northeast of the country on behalf of British energy network operator National Grid.

The letter referred to conduct which allegedly began prior to Balfour Beatty taking over the contract in April 2013, when a number of existing employees were transferred across to the new contract.

The company said it had found some evidence to suggest payments amounting to less than 1,000 pounds may have been made before it took over the contract and proof of what it called "localised bullying".

The 105-year old firm added that it would be extremely difficult for any employee working for the operational side of its business to exert significant, improper influence on the choice of a subcontractor for the contract.

It confirmed there had been no financial loss to National Grid, customers or consumers.

National Grid has previously come under fire for breaching its licence terms when it carried out gas pipeline replacement work between 2005 and 2008.

In 2011, energy regulator Ofgem fined National Grid 8 million pounds for providing inaccurate information on gas mains replacement work.

(Reporting by Li-mei Hoang, editing by David Evans)