SAN FRANCISCO (Bloomberg) — The US Justice Department joined lawsuits against Bermuda-based Accenture Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc., claiming the companies made improper payments to alliance partners on government contracts.The suits, originally filed in US District Court in Little Rock, Arkansas, allege the three companies submitted false claims to the government for technology contracts from the late 1990s to the present, the Justice Department said yesterday in a statement. The government filed its complaint, which was unsealed yesterday, on April 12.

“These alliance relationships and the resulting alliance benefits amount to kickbacks and undisclosed conflict-of-interest relationships,” the government said.

The lawsuits were first filed by Norman Rille and Neal Roberts in September 2004 under the so-called whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, under which a private party can file on behalf of the US and receive a portion of the award.