ANTICORRUPTION DEVELOPMENTS –

New Unaoil Charges by U.K. Serious Fraud Office –

On May 22, 2018, the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged two additional individuals in the ongoing probe related to allegations that Unaoil SAM made improper payments on behalf of companies in the oil and gas sectors to governments in the Middle East. Basil Al Jarah, Unaoil’s former territory manager for Iraq, and Ziad Akle, Unaoil’s former “Iraq partner,” face charges that they conspired to make corrupt payments on behalf of Leighton Contractors Singapore PTE Ltd (a subsidiary of Australia based Leighton Holdings now d/b/a CIMIC Group Limited) to secure a contract to build oil pipelines in Iraq in 2010. Al Jarah and Akle were first charged in November 2017 in connection with payments made on behalf of SBM Offshore. Two other Unaoil executives were also charged in connection with SBM Offshore payments.

Four-Year Sentence for Chinese Businessman for UN Bribery Scheme -

On May 11, 2018, Judge Vernon Broderick of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced Chinese businessman Ng Lap Seng to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release for Ng’s role in a scheme to bribe U.N. officials for the construction of a conference center in his hometown of Macau. Ng was convicted in July 2017 of money laundering, violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and U.S. domestic bribery laws, and engaging in conspiracy related to the bribery offenses. Ng is the first to be sentenced of six defendants who have been charged in this matter. Red Notice previously reported on events in this U.N. scheme in the April 2018 edition.