Bribery investigation of SBM includes Petrobras The Dutch SBM Offshore, which rents floating platforms to oil companies, including Petrobras, is under investigation by authorities in the Netherlands, England and the U.S. Department of Justice since 2012, for alleged bribe payments to enterprises, including state, and authorities in Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Italy, Iraq and Brazil.Headquartered in the Netherlands, SBM Monaco and has operations in the U.S. and owns one of the largest fleets of floating production platforms, storage and offloading (FPSO) in the world. research details were made public allegations from an ex- employee of SBM, published in Wikipedia last year.According to the former employee, between 2005 and 2011 SBM paid $ 250 million in bribes, of which more than half, just $ 139 million, have been disbursed through commissions to middlemen and employees of Petrobras, for contracts with the state. SBM has a majority stake in nine platforms currently leased or ordered by the state. According to the complaint, the payments would have been made through the sales representative SBM in Brazil, Julio Faerman, and companies linked to it, including the Faercom Energy Ltd. , JF Oildrive Consulting Energy Oil, Bienfaire, Jandell, Journey and Hades Advisors Inc. Production Of commissions (always in quotes mentioned) 3% paid to Julio Faerman (or JF), 1% would be for him and his companies and 2% to Petrobras employees. Names are not informed. In an excerpt of the complaint, the former employee describes a conversation he had had with the president of SBM, Bruno Chabas (labeled BC), he would have said, on payments to Faerman, which was not exclude the possibility of payments in Brazil have had the objective of financing political parties. The value could not contact Julio Faerman. Sought by value, Petrobras said it would not comment the case. Also sought, José Sergio Gabrielli, current Secretary of Planning of Bahia and who presided over the state at the time of the allegations, said through her publicist that would not manifest on this subject. Neither Petrobras nor SBM reported the value of contracts between the two companies currently in effect. In its latest balance sheet, SBM has announced that portfolio of orders of $ 23 billion, including platforms Cidade de Paraty, City of Marica and City of Saquarema, under construction for the Brazilian state. Former employee of SBM mentions Documents obtained by the internal audit of the company detailing the payments and various levels of SBM accuses of covering up evidence of crimes. He states that in March 2012, in an interview with a person identified as HT (initial refers to Hanny Tagher, it would be a former director of marketing and sales of SBM), were given explanations about a document that changed the contract on 2 July 1999 and signed on 7 February 2007 with Energy Faercom. According to the complaint, in this interview, HT would confirmed that the division of the 3% commission, 1% [would be] to JF (Julio Faerman) and 2% for employees of Petrobras. The previous mention of Hanny Tagher (HT complaint) is that it would be a company driver in the British Virgin Islands through which would have been paid bribes in Equatorial Guinea. Sought by value in Monaco, the advice of SBM Offshore said by email the investigation is still ongoing and therefore the company has no additional information to those provided on days 7 and February 10. The first note says he was the victim of extortion by former employee before the first publication of complaints on the internet, on October 18, 2013. And a representative of the former employee, who left the company in June 2012, would have charged € 3 million to the information was not disclosed. SBM reports have become aware in April 2012 of certain business practices involving third parties that may have been improper. Initiated an internal investigation and reported the facts to the competent authorities. Outside lawyers and accountants who reported to Sietze Hepkema who assumed the leadership of the Board Governance and Compliance (CGCO), created that year were hired. Note Company published on 10 states that in March 2013, SBM informed the market have identified evidence that substantial payments were made, mainly through intermediaries, which seem to have been intended to government officials. And that in the course of the investigation, allegations of improper payments were made in countries outside of Africa, but, to date, no conclusive proof of such claims has been established. SBM also said that commercial practices have been identified potentially improper in some African countries for the period 2007 to 2011 that are being investigated in order to determine whether these alleged payments violated the anti-corruption laws. A note of SBM is preserved even stating that, when quoting intermediaries, refers to sales agents and that there is no indication that the payments if they have been made, were made to government officials. By admitting to investigate potentially improper business practices, the company never mentioned Brazil, saying only that they occur in two countries from Africa and a country out of Africa. Offshore SBM had revenues of $ 4 , 8 billion in 2013 and the market value of the company is $ 3.3 billion. Since the beginning of the year, the companys shares fell 20.34%, largely the result of investigations in Europe and the United States. Alone or with partners, SBM currently has nine contracts for construction and subsequent lease signed with Petrobras platforms. Some are already connected to giant fields in the pre-salt Santos as Lula Nordeste (City of Paraty) and Blue Whale (City of Anchieta) and others are under construction. Units are installed in the Roncador, Sperm Whale, Blue Whale, Humpback and Marlim Sul field in the Campos Basin. Another platform, the City of Ilhabela, is under construction at Brasa shipyard in Niterói, and goes to the field Sapinhoá (former Guara.)Last year, the Dutch company has signed, along with partners, contracts for construction of platforms City Marica and City of Saquarema, which are in early stages of construction in China and will be installed in the Lula field. Petrobras has no operators partners in these fields, such as BG English, Spanish and Portuguese bell Repsol Sinopec Petrogal. The judicial investigation into the business practices of the Dutch company may have an effect on these oil companies, since the anti-corruption headquarters of these companies, the partners countries laws have strict liability on those payments. Source: Economic Value / Claudia Schuffner | River
Posted on: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 12:53:35 +0000
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