German Firm Fined $32m for Bribing Nigerian Officials

In continuation of the Willbros Inc bribery saga, a German Engineering Firm,  Bilfinger SE based in Mannheim has been fined $32 million for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by bribing some Nigerian government officials.

The firm, an international engineering and services company bribed the officials to secure and retain contracts related to the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) project, which was valued at approximately $387 million.

According to court documents, from late 2003 through June 2005, Bilfinger in collaboration with Willbros Group Inc. and others conspired to pay bribes of more than $6 million to the government officials to secure the EGGS contracts.

According to a recent statement issued by the US Department of Justice in Washington, Bilfinger and Willbros formed a joint venture to bid on the EGGS project.

They inflated the price of the joint venture’s bid by 3 percent to include the $6 million bribe.
"As part of the conspiracy, Bilfinger employees bribed Nigerian officials with cash that Bilfinger employees sent from Germany to Nigeria. At another point in the conspiracy, when Willbros employees encountered difficulty obtaining enough money to make their share of the bribe payments, Bilfinger loaned them $1 million, with the express purpose of paying bribes to the Nigerian officials," it read.
The US Acting Assistant Attorney General, Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

They disclosed that as part of the agreed resolution, the department on December 11 filed a three-count criminal information in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas charging Bilfinger with violating and co

nspiring to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions.
"The department and Bilfinger agreed to resolve the charges by entering into a deferred prosecution agreement for a term of three years. In addition to the monetary penalty, Bilfinger agreed to implement rigorous internal controls, continue cooperating fully with the department, and retain an independent corporate compliance monitor for at least 18 months. The agreement acknowledges Bilfinger’s cooperation with the department and its remediation efforts," the statement read.

It continued: "Including today’s (December 11)  action, the department has filed criminal charges in the Southern District of Texas against three institutions and four executives and consultants in connection with the EGGS bribery scheme:
Several Willbros officials have already been tried and convicted for bribing Nigerian government officials..

" On Sept. 14, 2006, Jim Bob Brown, a former Willbros executive, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA in connection with his role in making corrupt payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract and in connection with his role in making corrupt payments in Ecuador. Brown was sentenced on Jan. 28, 2010, to serve 12 months and one day in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $17,500 fine."

"On Nov. 5, 2007, Jason Steph, also a former Willbros executive, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA in connection with his role in making corrupt payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract. Steph was sentenced on Jan. 28, 2010, to serve 15 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine"

" On May 14, 2008, Willbros Group Inc. and Willbros International Inc. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $22 million criminal penalty in connection with the company’s payment of bribes to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador. On March 30, 2012, the government moved to dismiss the charges against Willbros on the grounds that Willbros had satisfied its obligations under the deferred prosecution agreement, and on April 2, 2012, the court granted the United States’ motion"

"On Dec. 19, 2008, Kenneth Tillery, a former Willbros executive, was charged with conspiring to make and making bribe payments to Nigerian and Ecuadoran officials in connection with the EGGS project and pipeline projects in Ecuador and conspiring to launder the bribe payments. Tillery remains a fugitive. The charges against Tillery are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty."

"On Nov. 12, 2009, Paul Grayson Novak, a former Willbros consultant, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one substantive count of violating the FCPA in connection with his role in making corrupt payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract. Novak was sentenced on May 3, 2013, to serve 15 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $1 million fine."

THISDAY