Petrobras Investigating SBM Offshore Bribery Allegations

The company is one of the biggest suppliers of oil services to Petrobras, which is in the middle of a $237 billion five-year investment plan, the world's largest corporate investment program.

Last year, SBM Offshore said its investigations found indications of improper payments to government officials in "two countries in Africa, and in one other country outside Africa."

SBM Offshore also said it might have violated anti-corruption laws and that it could be subject to criminal investigation for alleged payments of bribes to officials in African countries.

New allegations were made public in early February from an unidentified former employee who posted what is allegedly internal company information on SBM Offshore's Wikipedia page. The allegations were removed from the page but remain archived on Wikipedia.

The employee alleged that SBM Offshore gave $250 million in bribes to government officials in Africa and Brazil and that more than half of the money, $139 million, was paid in Brazil to Petrobras officials through an intermediary.

SBM Offshore said in a Feb. 7 statement that the information posted on Wikipedia was similar to information sent to it in March 2013 by an employee who left the company in June 2012. It also said the person had sought money from SBM Offshore in exchange for not making the information public.

The Dutch company said the information contained in the Wikipedia allegations "is partial, taken out of context and to the extent factually correct, is outdated."


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