Wilbros to pay $32m fine for bribing NNPC, PDP officials

By Our Reporter - 16.05.2008

With the help of the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the US government on Wednesday announced in Washington DC that Wilbros Group had agreed to pay $22 million penalty over charges of corruption involving Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) officials.

Empowered Newswire, a US-based Nigerian news agency, reported that Wilbros Group had also reached a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and agreed to pay additionally $10.3 million fine “in disgorgement of all profits and pre-judgment interest in connection with the corrupt payments to the Nigerian government officials.”

Overall, Wilbros has agreed to pay about $32 million in penalties, disgorgement and interest in the criminal and SEC cases for offering and giving bribes estimated at well over $6 million to Nigerian and Ecuadorian officials.

According to a statement from the US Justice Department, Wilbros Group, a publicly traded company that provides construction, engineering and other services in the oil and gas industry, and Wilbros International Inc. (Wilbros International), which conducts international operations, violated the US law by bribing both Nigerian and Ecuadorian government officials.

In view of the plea deal between the US government and the company, the Justice Department has now filed "a deferred prosecution agreement with Wilbros Group and Wilbros International, as well as criminal information against both entities (collectively referred to as Wilbros) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas."