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Jury acquits former Sarclad executives of U.K. SFO bribery charges
On July 16, a London jury acquitted three former Sarclad executives who had been charged with foreign bribery by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The SFO reportedly failed to prove that the former executives – a managing director, sales head, and project manager – had paid bribes to secure overseas contracts. The acquittal comes three years after Sarclad, a metals industry supplier, entered into the SFO’s second-ever deferred prosecution agreement (DPA). The July 2016 DPA resolved, at a corporate level, some of the same bribery allegations that the executives faced at trial, and resulted in the company paying a £6.5 million fine. Sarclad’s identity in the DPA was not publicly known until restrictions were lifted at the conclusion of the trial.
SFO fines FH Bertling Ltd over $1 million for bribery scheme
On June 3, the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced that it had fined FH Bertling Ltd £850,000 (approximately $1.08 million) for bribes paid to secure contracts in Angola. The SFO started investigating FH Bertling in September 2014 and announced in July 2016 that it had charged the company and seven individuals with making corrupt payments. FH Bertling pleaded guilty in 2017. The SFO found that FH Bertling executives had bribed an agent of the Angolan state oil company to obtain $20 million worth of shipping contracts.
SFO declines to prosecute individuals in Rolls-Royce and GSK corruption investigations
The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced on February 22 that it was ending two long-running corruption-related investigations – one of aviation company Rolls-Royce and the other of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline – without bringing charges against any individuals.
In 2017, Rolls-Royce paid $650 million to settle an SFO investigation into a government kickbacks scheme. In connection with the resolution of the SFO’s charges, Rolls-Royce admitted to bribing government officials in Russia, India, China, Nigeria, and elsewhere in exchange for contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Rolls-Royce also paid $170 million to resolve related charges brought by the DOJ, with the DOJ later charging five individuals for their alleged participation in the bribery scheme.
Although the SFO announced in 2014 that GlaxoSmithKline was under investigation, the SFO never disclosed the subject matter of that investigation. In its only announcements about the case, the SFO has noted simply that the investigation concerned the company’s “commercial practices.” In 2012, GlaxoSmithKline had paid $3 billion in the U.S. to settle charges brought by U.S. prosecutors concerning alleged off-label marketing, and in 2014 was convicted in China of bribing doctors and hospitals to improve sales, but it remains unknown whether the SFO’s investigation related to one of these known issues or something different.
The SFO Director explained in a public statement that the decision to decline prosecution of any individuals in connection with these investigations was because “there is either insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction, or it is not in the public interest to bring a prosecution in these cases.”
UK Serious Fraud Office ends first deferred prosecution agreement with Standard Bank
On November 30, the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced the successful conclusion of the deferred prosecution agreement entered into in 2015 with Standard Bank PLC, which had followed allegations that payments were made by two former employees to bribe members of the Tanzanian government. This deferred prosecution agreement was the first ever entered into by the SFO and also marked the first use of Section 7 of the Bribery Act of 2010—failure of commercial organizations to prevent bribery—by any U.K. prosecutor. Upon entering into the deferred prosecution agreement in 2015, Standard Bank had also settled related charges with the SEC. See previous Scorecard coverage here.
The DPA required Standard Bank to pay fines and disgorgement totaling almost $26 million, pay an additional $6 million to compensate the government of Tanzania, and hire an external compliance consultant. On the basis that Standard Bank had fully complied with the terms of the agreement, the SFO announced that it had advised the relevant UK court that it will conclude the DPA without restarting proceedings against the bank. The SFO’s announcement also promised that a “Details of Compliance” document outlining how Standard Bank met the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement would be published on the SFO’s website in the future. Because this is the SFO’s first deferred prosecution agreement, this document could be very useful guidance for companies to understand what measures will be expected to satisfy the SFO.
Oil company executives found guilty in U.K. of money laundering
According to the U.K Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the former CEO and CFO of Afren, Plc., an oil and gas exploration and production company, were sentenced in the UK on October 29 for their parts in a kickback scheme in Nigeria. The former CEO was sentenced to up to six years in prison, and the CFO to up to five years. The executives, Osman Shahenshah and Shahid Ullah, were found to have recommended that Afren enter a $300 million deal with an oil field partner in Nigeria without telling the company’s Board that they would personally receive 15% of the deal’s value from the partner. They then laundered more than $45 million, using some of the proceeds to buy luxury Caribbean real estate. The SFO thanked the U.S. DOJ for its assistance with the investigation.
UK Serious Fraud Office recovers bribe from diplomat from Chad
In what the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is calling a first, a £4.4 million recovery from a corruption case will be returned overseas. The SFO prevailed in a trial before the UK High Court and recovered the money from Chadian diplomats, including the wife of the former Deputy Chief of the Chadian Embassy to the United States who was received the money in the form of discounted shares of Canadian oil company Griffiths Energy International, Inc. Griffiths also paid “consultancy fees” to diplomats through a front company called “Chad Oil” set up five days before the agreements with the diplomats. In exchange for the payments, Griffiths received exclusive development rights in Chad.
The case has continued for some time—Griffiths paid a C$10 million criminal fine in Canada in 2013. After Griffiths was taken over by a UK corporation, the U.S. DOJ filed an In Rem. complaint and later requested SFO assistance.
This recovery will be “transferred to the Department for International Development who will identify key projects to invest in that will benefit the poorest in Chad.”
SFO confirms opening of criminal investigation into aerospace and defense group
On January 18, the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) confirmed the opening of an investigation of Chemring Group PLC (“Chemring”) and its subsidiary, Chemring Technology Solutions Limited (“CTSL”) into alleged bribery, corruption, and money laundering. Chemring, a UK-based company that designs and makes products in the aerospace and defense industries, stated that the investigation followed a voluntary report from CTSL relating to “two specific historic contracts.” According to Chemring, the first of these contracts was awarded before the company took over the business group being investigated, while the second contract occurred after the acquisition. Chemring stated that the company will fully cooperate with the SFO’s investigation and provide further updates.
Directors Plead Guilty in U.K. to Angola Bribe Scheme
On September 15, F.H. Bertling Ltd., a logistics and shipping company, and six of its current and former directors pleaded guilty in the U.K. to charges of conspiracy to pay bribes in Angola. The trial against a seventh man charged in the conspiracy started this week in London. The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office charged the company and the seven individuals last year with allegedly paying bribes when F.H. Bertling was seeking to obtain freight forwarding services contracts with the Angolan state oil company, Sonangol, between January 2005 and December 2006.
SFO Director Urges Department to Compete With DOJ on Home Turf
In a September 4 speech, Serious Fraud Office (SFO) Director David Green urged the SFO to lead anti-corruption enforcement efforts against UK-connected companies, warning that “if we take our foot off the pedal . . . , others will fill the void.” Green noted that the DOJ “is not shy about enforcing the [FCPA] against foreign companies,” and emphasized that seven of the top ten highest-dollar FCPA cases since 2008 were brought against non-American companies. Green said that “it is surely right that the UK should lead enforcement in relation to UK companies or companies with strong connections here,” because it not only “demonstrates our commitment to the level playing field,” but it also “ensures that hefty financial penalties go to UK public coffers rather than elsewhere.”
Former Currency Manufacturer Manager Convicted and Sentenced In UK For Making Corrupt Payments
On May 11, following a five-week trial in a London court, a former manager of Securency PTY Ltd (Securency) was convicted of four counts of making corrupt payments to a foreign official in violation of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. Peter Chapman, the former manager of the polymer banknote manufacturers Africa office, was acquitted on two other counts. Chapman was convicted of bribing an agent of Nigerian Security Printing and Mining PLC in order to secure contracts for the purchase of reams of polymer substrate from Securency. The total amount of bribes to the agent equaled approximately $205,000. On May 12, he was sentenced to two and a half years (30 months on each convicted count, to be served concurrently). The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) prosecuted the case following a joint investigation by the SFO and the Australian Federal Police, which initiated the investigation in May 2009.