A joint venture between Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V (Snamprogetti), Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), Technip S.A (Technip) and the Japanese engineering and construction company (JGC) was formed to bid for and to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts worth more than $6 billion in Nigeria. The joint venture was awarded four EPC contracts by Nigeria LNG Ltd (NLNG) between 1995 and 2004 to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Bonny Island. Snamprogetti authorised the joint venture to hire two agents to pay bribes to a range of Nigerian government officials to assist the joint venture in obtaining the EPC contracts.
Snamprogetti and its parent company at the time ENI, SpA (ENI), are the latest out of the four joint venture companies to be charged by the SEC with multiple violations of the FCPA over the Nigerian bribery scandal. Snamprogetti and ENI jointly agreed to pay $125 million to settle the SEC’s charges. Snamprogetti agreed to pay an additional $240 million to settle a separate criminal penalty imposed by the DOJ.
Snamprogetti has also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ and if the company satisfies the terms of the agreement, the charges against it will be dismissed. In late June, Technip agreed to pay a total of $338 million to the SEC and the DOJ for scheming to bribe Nigerian government officials to secure the EPC contracts. Technip also agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement, the filing of criminal information and to retain an independent compliance monitor for a two year period. KBR pleaded guilty last year and agreed to pay £579 million in relation to the charges it had paid bribes to the Nigerian officials. The total sanctions against the joint venture companies to resolve charges for its participation in the $6 billion Nigerian bribery scandal comes to more than $1.28 billion.
