Petrofac Pleads Guilty to Seven Bribery Offenses in U.K. Court

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. oil-service provider Petrofac Ltd. pleaded guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery between 2011 and 2017 at a London court hearing.

The guilty pleas come after the company said had entered into a deal with the U.K. Serious Fraud Office. A financial penalty will be determined by a London court on Monday.

The charges relate to former employees offering or making payments to agents in relation to projects in Iraq, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. All employees involved in the charges have left the business.

Petrofac is one of the largest providers of services to oil and gas producers, helping plan, construct and operate facilities with a particular focus on the Middle East and North Africa. The share price of the London-based company has dramatically fallen since bribery allegations first emerged in 2016.

“This was a deeply regrettable period of Petrofac’s history,” the company’s chair, Rene Medori, said in a Sept. 24 statement. “We are committed to ensuring it will never happen again.”

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