British oil services company Petrofac was fined £77 million ($105 million) on Monday and a former executive jailed after they pleaded guilty to bribery in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The fine is less than the $240 million penalty that the company said on Saturday it might face and its shares jumped 8 per cent after the announcement to their highest since June 2020.
A spokesperson for the company said former executive David Lufkin was sentenced by Southwark Crown Court in London to a two-year suspended sentence. Lufkin’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
The court took into account the extensive programme of corporate reform that Petrofac has undergone in recent years, the spokesperson said.
He added the company intended to proceed with a refinancing flagged on Saturday, which it had said could include raising debt or equity.
With the four-year investigation by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) hanging over its past contracts, Petrofac has struggled to secure key contracts in the Middle East and has seen its shares battered.
The company last month pleaded guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery between 2011 and 2017, hoping to draw a line under what its chairman has called a “deeply regrettable period”. — Reuters
