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Nigeria: U.S. Fines Willbros $32m for Bribing Officials
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This Day (Lagos)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Constance Ikokwu With Agency Report
Washington, DC
In what is a major indictment on its business activities, Willbros, an oil and gas industry services firm, has agreed to pay over $32 million in fines and forfeitures to settle allegations of bribery, according to documents made available by the United States Justice Department.
The company, accused of bribing Nigerian and Ecuadoran officials, has violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which prohibits American citizens or companies from bribing officials in order to get business deals, the Justice Department said.
Willbros employees agreed to make "corrupt" payments of over $6.3 million to Nigerian government officials to get a $387 million contract in a major natural gas pipeline project, court papers reveal.
The payment were said to have been made from 2003 to 2005.
Details of the Nigerian officials who received the bribes - or who were supposed to be bribed - were not made public.
According to the Justice Department, "the conspirators corruptly paid, promised to pay and authorised payments to officials of the (state-owned) Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other entities and individuals".
The terms of settlement with federal prosecutors require Willbros to pay $22 million criminal penalty, and the firm has agreed to make the payment.
It has also agreed to pay $10.3 million in disgorgement of profits tied to allegations of bribes paid to Nigerian officials.
The bribe allegation in Ecuador was also related to a gas pipeline project, investigators said.
The one in Nigeria is related to a gas pipeline project called the Eastern Gas Gathering System.
The company may escape criminal prosecution if it overhauls its business practices within the next three years, said the US government.
Willbros is based in Panama City, Panama but has offices in Houston and Texas.
In the last one year, several foreign companies have been accused or found guilty of paying bribes to get businesses in Nigeria.
Siemens, a German engineering company, was convicted of distributing bribes to Nigerian government officials to win contracts in the country.
Siemens was fined 201m euros ($248m) by a Munich court in October after being found guilty of paying bribes.
Siemens had uncovered more than 1.3bn euros in "suspicious payments", with Nigerian ministers or officials alone having allegedly received 10 million euros between 2001 and 2004.
The company's chairman and chief executive both resigned over the scandal.
Siemens accepted the court judgment. It also agreed to pay 179m euros to the tax authorities.
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Just last week, it was reported that the US government was probing Halliburton for some questionable payments to Nigerian government officials.
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