Google – AFP, Paul Handley (AFP), 29 may 2013
French oil
group Total's logo is seen in Paris on November 23, 2012
(AFP/File, Eric
Piermont)
|
WASHINGTON
— French oil giant Total has been fined $398.2 million under US foreign
corruption laws to resolve charges it bribed officials in Iran to secure oil
and gas concessions, US authorities announced Wednesday.
Total was
fined $245.2 million by the Department of Justice for violations of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), while the Securities and Exchange Commission
penalized it another $153 million in disgorgement and interest in the case.
The charges
stemmed from some $60 million in bribes that Total intermediaries paid Iranian
officials between 1995 and 2004 to obtain the rights to develop several oil and
gas fields, the Justice Department said.
US Attorney
Neil MacBride answers reporters'
questions on June 23, 2011 in Washington, DC
(Getty Images/AFP/File, Chip Somodevilla)
|
US
authorities worked together with French officials in the lengthy probe.
In tandem
Wednesday French authorities recommended that Total, the company's chairman and
chief executive be prosecuted for violating French bribery laws.
Total
agreed to pay the US fines under a deferred prosecution agreement which
requires the company over the next three years to retain an independent
corporate compliance monitor and to implement controls to prevent FCPA
violations,
"Today's
deferred prosecution agreement, with both its punitive and forward-looking
compliance provisions, dovetails with our goals of bringing violators to
justice and preventing future misconduct," said US Attorney Neil MacBride.
The Justice
Department said the bribes began in 1995 when Total tried to reenter the
Iranian market by obtaining rights from the National Iranian Oil Company to
develop two fields known as Sirra A and Sirra E.
Total paid
around $16 million to an Iranian official via a fake consulting agreement to
make the deal happen, the department said.
In 1997
Total began paying another $44 million via a second consulting arrangement for
rights to develop part of the South Pars gas field, the world's largest.
"Total
mischaracterized the unlawful payments as 'business development expenses' when
they were, in fact, bribes designed to corruptly influence a foreign
official," the department said.
In Paris
Total told AFP that the company would challenge the French accusations.
"In
the event of a trial, Total and its chief executive for the Middle East at the
time, will argue that the behavior that they are accused of was completely
legal under French law," the company said.
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