WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A North Canton ATM and business-machine manufacturer that will pay nearly $50 million in fines for bribing foreign officials in China and Indonesia and falsifying records in Russia has secured help from U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and Rep. Jim Renacci of Wadsworth in an ongoing trade dispute with Thailand.

On August 30, the GOP legislators sent a letter to Thailand’s U.S. ambassador, Chaiyong Satjipanon, which urged the country to restore the duty-free status of ATM machines Diebold Inc. has exported to Thailand since 1999.

Their letter complained that the machines were sent to Thailand without imposition of duties until 2009, when Thailand’s customs service altered its stance. That year, Thailand imposed a 20 percent duty and threatened to retroactively impose the charge on equipment imported since 2003.

The company has appealed, arguing its exports of ATMs and cash dispensers are supposed to be duty free under the World Trade Organization’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA).

“Our constituent has attempted to work with Thai Customs to get this matter resolved without success,” said the letter from Portman and Renacci. “We would therefore request your assistance to ensure that Thailand conforms with its ITA obligations, our constituent is treated fairly by the Thai Customs Department, and this matter gets resolved as soon as possible.”

Portman spokeswoman Caitlin Dunn said Satjipanon left Washington last month and did not reply to Portman’s letter before his departure. She said Thailand has not yet sent its new ambassador to the United States.

Court records released Tuesday say Diebold paid bribes and falsified documents in connection with the sale of its ATMs to bank customers in China, Indonesia, and Russia.

They say that in China and Indonesia from 2005 to 2010, the company "repeatedly provided things of value" totaling approximately $1.75 million in order to secure and retain business with bank customers, including state-owned and -controlled banks.

From 2005 to 2009, the court documents allege that Diebold created and entered into false contracts with a distributor in Russia for services that the distributor was not performing. The distributor, in turn, used the money that Diebold paid to it, in part, to pay bribes to employees of Diebold’s privately-owned bank customers in Russia in order to obtain and retain ATM-related contracts with those customers.

Federal prosecutors acknowledged that Diebold officials voluntarily disclosed the criminal activity, cooperated with government investigators, and conducted its own extensive internal investigation.