The United States Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation have confirmed that construction giant Julius Berger’s
foreign affiliate Bilfinger SE, has agreed to pay N5.1 billion ($32m)
penalty for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Bilfinger
SE, German-based international engineering and services company, was
charged with bribing Nigerian government officials to obtain and retain
contracts related to work for the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS). A
project valued at $387 million.
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.
As part of the agreed
resolution, the department Tuesday filed a three-count criminal
information in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
charging Bilfinger with violating and conspiring 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.
According
to court documents, from late 2003 through June 2005, Bilfinger
conspired with Willbros Group Inc. and others to make corrupt payments
totaling more than $6 million to Nigerian government officials to assist
in obtaining and retaining contracts related to the EGGS project.
Bilfinger and Willbros formed a joint venture to bid on the EGGS project
and inflated the price of the joint venture’s bid by three percent to
cover the cost of paying bribes to Nigerian officials. 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.
On September 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 January 28, 2010, to serve 12 months and one day
in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and was
ordered to pay a $17,500 fine.
On November 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 January 28, 2010, to serve 15
months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and
was 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 December 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 November 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 was ordered to pay a $1 million
fine.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field
Office and its team of special agents dedicated to the investigation of
foreign bribery cases. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial
Attorney Laura N. Perkins of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
PM News
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