Willbros official faces bribery rap
A former executive of US contractor Willbros is facing corruption and money laundering charges for allegedly arranging $6 million in bribes to Nigerian officials.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has accused Jason Steph, 37, of arranging the payments between 2003 and 2005 when he managed onshore Nigerian operations for Willbros.
Steph, who resigned from the contractor in 2005 and now lives in Kazakhstan, faces up to 65 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines if convicted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
He has also been charged with money laundering based upon the international transfer of some of the bribe money.
According to the DoJ’s indictment, there was a “conspiracy” between late 2003 and March 2005 that “included Steph, a former senior Willbros executive officer, two individuals acting as purported consultants to Willbros, Nigeria-based employees of a major German engineering and construction company, and others, to make millions of dollars in corrupt payments to assist" in obtaining a turnkey contract covering Shell’s Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) in the Niger Delta.
Willbros, in a joint venture with a German company, were eventually awarded a $387 million contract covering this EGGS job.
The DoJ alleged that bribes were paid to officials of the stateowned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiary Napims (National Petroleum Investment Management Services).
It is also alleged other payments were made to a senior official in the executive branch of the Nigerian federal government, and to a political party, as well as to officials of the operator of the EGGS joint venture.
According to the indictment, former Willbros employee Jim Bob Brown, who headed the company’s Nigerian operations, also participated in the scheme.
Brown pleaded guilty to criminal bribery charges last year and settled a similar civil case with the US Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other unnamed US, Nigerian, German and Canadian nationals were also listed as coconspirators but not charged.
The Justice Department said the criminal investigation into Steph’s case is continuing.
Willbros sold its Nigerian business earlier this year to Nigerian player Ascot Offshore for $155 million.
Meanwhile, American driller Ensco has become the latest contractor to open up an investigation into potential bribes paid in Nigeria, joining the likes of Global Industries, Noble Corporation, GlobalSantaFe and Tidewater, which have announced similar probes in the past few months.
These investigations appear to have been triggered after the DoJ hit Vetco International with a $26 million fine in February after the company admitted violating the FCPA and paying bribes to Nigerian customs officials.