By Toby Sterling
AMSTERDAM, Nov 6 (Reuters) – SBM Offshore, the marine engineering firm that paid $240 million to Dutch authorities to settle a Latin American bribery case in 2014, said on Monday it had taken a new $238 million provision, mainly to settle a related case with U.S. authorities.
However, the company said a preliminary settlement reached with Brazilian authorities last year had fallen apart, dealing a blow to its efforts to draw a line under a scandal that erupted in 2012 when SBM said it had uncovered “improper sales practices.”
As a result, it will no longer be able to participate in tenders as a subcontractor for Brazilian state oil firm Petrobras, one of its largest customers, SBM said.
In the 2014 settlement, Dutch prosecutors said payments made with the cooperation of SBM employees constituted “the indictable offence of bribery.”
That settlement precluded the company and its officials from being prosecuted in the Netherlands, but did not rule out the possibility they could be indicted elsewhere.
SBM said in Monday’s statement that “individuals” and former executives could still be prosecuted.
Chief compliance officer Erik Lagendijk said in a statement that since 2012 SBM had “completely changed its business model and ways of working.”
“Although it appears that the company can likely reach a resolution with the DoJ (U.S. Department of Justice) and thus make an important step towards closure of the past … no global solution to bring finality is currently available,” he said.
SBM said it had been prepared to pay “substantial amounts” to resolve the issues in Brazil and regain access to Petrobras tenders. However, the deals on offer were rejected by Brazilian courts and the newest versions did not offer the company finality.
It said it would continue negotiations with Brazilian authorities over a comprehensive settlement. (Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri and Mark Potter)
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