Innospec Director Pleads Guilty In U.K.

The Serious Fraud Office said the former sales and marketing director in the U.K. for Innospec pleaded guilty this week to three criminal counts of conspiracy to corrupt.

David Turner, 56, appeared Tuesday at the Southwark Crown Court in London.

According to the SFO, he was charged with two counts of conspiring to bribe public officials in Indonesia and Iraq. The illegal payments were for sales of Innospec’s gas additive products, including tetraethyl lead.

Turner also pleaded guilty, the SFO said, to conspiring to bribe Iraqi officials ‘to ensure that tests on MMT, a competitor product manufactured by Ethyl Corporation, conducted by or on behalf of the Government of Iraq, concluded with an unfavourable assessment of that product.’

The alleged offenses occurred between 2002 and 2008.

The court didn’t set a date for sentencing, the SFO said.

Turner, a U.K. citizen, settled civil charges with the U.S. SEC in 2010. He disgorged $40,000 and wasn’t required to pay any further civil penalty.

Two other Innospec executives, Dennis Kerrison and Paul Jennings, have also been charged with criminal offenses in the U.K. Their next court appearance for a plea will be in April.

In 2010, Innospec — a specialty chemical-maker based in Delaware — reached a $40 million global settlement of more than a dozen criminal charges in the U.S. and U.K., including FCPA and U.N. oil for food program offenses, and violations of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

Last month, Innospec’s agent in Iraq, Ousama Naaman, was sentenced in the U.S. to thirty months in prison. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

No Innospec employees have faced criminal charges in the U.S.

Naaman also settled civil charges with the SEC in 2010. He agreed to disgorge $810,076 plus prejudgment interest of $67,030, and pay a civil penalty of $438,038.

The Serious Fraud Office said it had help in Turner’s prosecution from the U.S. Department of Justice, the SEC, the City of London Police, and the Cheshire Constabulary.