Four men have been found guilty of allegedly conspiring to corruptly obtain payments in return for supplying confidential information about a number of high value oil and gas engineering projects.

The contracts were for engineering and procurement projects located in Iran, Egypt, Sakhalin Island (Russia), Singapore and Abu Dhabi, between 2001 to 2009.  

It is alleged that the defendants, Mr Andrew Rybak, Mr Ronald Saunders, Mr Philip Hammond and Mr Barry Smith, had access to confidential information which they relayed onto targeted bidding companies who either made, or agreed to make, corrupt payments in return for information dressed up as “consultancy services”.

The four men were sentenced to imprisonment on 30 January 2012. Mr Rybak received 5 years, Mr Saunders 3 years and 6 months, Mr Hammond 3 years and Mr Smith 12 months (suspended for a period of 18 months) and 300 hours of unpaid work. Mr Rybak and Mr Hammond were also disqualified from acting as company directors for ten years. Confiscation actions are to be undertaken against the first three defendants.

A fifth defendant, Mr Robert Storey has been bailed pending an SFO decision on how to proceed.  

SFO Director Mr Richard Alderman commented “Corruption in business life diminishes society. Today’s outcome makes it clear that it will not be tolerated. The investigation is an excellent example of collaboration between the City of London Police and the SFO. Each of us used our particular powers and skills, combined in a complex case with significant international links”.