A judge in Milan ordered Italian oil and gas services firm Saipem to go on trial for alleged bribery in Algeria.
Prosecutors said the company bribed Algeria officials to win work from state-owned energy firm Sonatrach.
Three former top Saipem executives and two alleged intermediaries from Algeria will also stand trial on charges of tax fraud and international corruption.
Eni, Saipem’s parent company, was cleared of wrongdoing, as were Eni’s former chief Paolo Scaroni and its former head of North Africa.
Milan-based Saipem said in a statement that it “acknowledges the judge’s decision and is confident that it will be able to demonstrate that there are no grounds for the company to be held liable under Italian Legislative Decree 231/2001 at the first instance trial.”
Prosecutors said intermediates working for Saipem paid about $221.55 million in bribes to win contracts with Sonatrach worth about $9 billion.
The alleged corruption took place until the beginning of 2010.
The trial is scheduled to begin on December 2.
In August, Saipem confirmed that Milan prosecutors are also looking into alleged corruption tied to a 2011 contract awarded by Brazil’s Petrobras.
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Nicolas Torres is a reporter for Petro Global News, where a version of this post first appeared.
1 Comment
Hello,
I'm an Italian lawyer based in Milan (Italy), working in Corporate Compliance field.
Unfortunately d.lgs. 231/01 isn't mandatory for companies.
Saipem is well covered we will see what happen.
In general, in my country, we would need a better corporate compliance rules.
Giulio
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