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
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.
Source : Punch
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