The Swiss Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered three subsidiaries of Dutch oil and gas services company SBM Offshore to pay a criminal penalty of CHF 7 million (U.S. $7.6 million) as part of the conclusion of a legacy bribery investigation.

SBM Offshore first disclosed in November 2020 that three of its Swiss units were notified by the Bundesanwaltschaft (the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland) concerning suspicion that from 2005 until 2012, these subsidiaries “failed to take all reasonable and necessary organizational measures to prevent the commission of acts of active bribery of foreign public officials.”

“The fact pattern and compliance shortcomings prior to 2012 that led to the Swiss penalty are also covered by the legacy resolutions the company concluded in the Netherlands (2014), the United States (2017), and Brazil (2018),” said SBM Offshore Chief Governance and Compliance Officer Erik Lagendijk in a Nov. 23 press release. “The termination of the investigation and penalty now also close this old issue in Switzerland on a full and final basis.”

“Today and for many years now, the company has been implementing substantial measures to ensure that it operates with integrity and fully in line with laws, regulations, and with its compliance standards,” Lagendijk added. “These measures were also recognized by the Swiss Public Prosecutor Office.”

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal, enforcement, technology, and more.

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