Singapore charges two ex-employees of Sembcorp Marine in Brazil graft case

Authorities in Singapore charged on Thursday two former officials of Sembcorp Marine with handing bribes to Brazilian officials to advance the company's interests in the South American nation, they said in a statement. Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore and Marine merged in 2023 to form Seatrium, which is in talks to pay $110 million in a deferred prosecution agreement regarding the bribery case in Brazil, the authorities added.

Authorities in Singapore charged on Thursday two former officials of Sembcorp Marine with handing bribes to Brazilian officials to advance the company's interests in the South American nation, they said in a statement.

Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore and Marine merged in 2023 to form Seatrium, which is in talks to pay $110 million in a deferred prosecution agreement regarding the bribery case in Brazil, the authorities added. Trade in Seatrium shares was suspended for the news. The stock has dropped 33% this year, underperforming the benchmark stock index, which is relatively flat, LSEG data showed.

Former CEO Wong Weng Sun and ex-manager Lee Fook Kang face five charges of conspiring to offer a middleman inducements to aid Sembcorp Marine's Brazilian subsidiaries, according to the city-state's statement. The total sum involved in the offences between 2009 and 2014 amounted to about $44 million, the attorney-general's chambers and Singapore's Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau added in the statement.

Lawyers for Lee said they were not in a position to comment as they had just been engaged on the matter. A lawyer for Wong did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wong has also been charged with obstruction of justice after he allegedly told two Sembcorp employees in 2014 to delete an email sent by the middleman that contained evidence of bribes.

Singapore prosecutors were in talks with Seatrium for a deferred prosecution agreement to pay a penalty of $110 million, the statement added. Seatrium told the stock exchange on Thursday that the attorney-general's chambers was agreeable to entering into the deferred prosecution agreement.

It said it was committed to the highest standards of compliance, including zero tolerance of bribery and corruption.