Former Unaoil managers convicted in Britain of Iraq bribery

"These men dishonestly and corruptly took advantage of a government reeling from dictatorship and occupation, and trying to reconstruct a war-torn state," said SFO head Lisa Osofsky. "They abused the system to cut out competitors and line their own pockets."


Reuters | London | Updated: 13-07-2020 17:59 IST | Created: 13-07-2020 17:46 IST
Former Unaoil managers convicted in Britain of Iraq bribery
Representative image Image Credit: ANI
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Two former managers of Monaco-based energy consultancy Unaoil have been convicted in Britain of bribing Iraqi officials to clinch lucrative oil projects as the war-ravaged country tried to boost exports after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. A London jury found British-Lebanese Ziad Akle, Unaoil's former Iraq territory manager, and Stephen Whiteley, a British former manager for Iraq, Kazakhstan and Angola, guilty after a marathon 19 days of deliberations.

But the jury was not able to reach a verdict in the case against Paul Bond, a British one-time Middle East sales manager for Dutch-based oil and gas services company SBM Offshore. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Monday it would pursue a retrial. All three men had denied any wrongdoing.

The long-awaited decision prompted the judge to lift reporting restrictions on the verdicts after an unprecedented trial that was suspended in March -- as the coronavirus brought parts of the criminal justice system to a halt and restarted in May in a new court to allow jurors to socially distance. "These men dishonestly and corruptly took advantage of a government reeling from dictatorship and occupation, and trying to reconstruct a war-torn state," said SFO head Lisa Osofsky.

"They abused the system to cut out competitors and line their own pockets."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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