Duo to pay $365m in bribe case
Dutch engineering outfit Snamprogetti Netherlands, will pay $240 million to avoid prosecution for bribing Nigerian officials and join its former owner ENI in paying another $125 million to settle a US civil probe.
The Justice Department charged Snamprogetti with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to secure contracts in a $6 billion construction project.
Prosecutors will drop charges in two years if Snamprogetti pays $240 million in fines and makes reforms.
ENI and Snamprogetti will pay $125 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission case, Bloomberg reported.
“This elaborate bribery scheme featured sham intermediaries, Swiss bank accounts, and carloads of cash as everyone involved made a concerted effort to cover their tracks,” said Robert Khuzami, SEC enforcement director, in a statement today after the agreements were filed in federal court in Houston.