SBM Offshore: Justice Department reopens bribery probe

Dutch oil and gas company SBM Offshore announced this week that the U.S. Department of Justice has re-opened its past bribery investigation of the company concerning allegations of improper payments made to sales agents and foreign government officials in Equatorial Guinea, Angola, and Brazil.

As Compliance Week previously reported, the company in September 2014 reached a $240 million out-of-court settlement with the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office to resolve allegations that SBM Offshore paid approximately $200 million in commissions to foreign sales agents for services from 2007 through 2011. The largest part of these commissions, totaling $180.6 million, related to Equatorial Guinea, Angola, and Brazil.

At the time, SBM said the...