SAIPEM Fined 600,000 Euros For Bribing Nigerian Officials

A court in Milan has fined Saipem 600,000 euros ($780,000) and ordered the confiscation of 24.5 million euros worth of assets after Thursday finding Italy’s biggest oil services company by market value guilty of corruption in Nigeria.

eni_saipemThe Milan court found Saipem guilty of corruption for a period leading up to 2004 that led to the awarding of liquefied natural gas works in Nigeria’s Bonny Island.

The case revolved round a company called Snamprogetti which was accused of paying bribes to Nigerian officials to win contracts between 1994 to 2004.

Snamprogetti was a wholly owned subsidiary of Italian oil and gas group Eni until February 2006 when a deal was reached to sell it to Saipem.

Snamprogetti was merged into Saipem in 2008.

 

Saipem’s biggest shareholder is Eni, which holds a 43% stake.

The oil services company has shocked investors with two profit warnings in six months and after it emerged late last year that Milan prosecutors were investigating it for possible corruption in Algeria.

Saipem denies any wrongdoing.