Oil Bribery Case Finally Settles

By Robert Davis
Nov 5 2010

The federal investigation has announced today that over $200 million will be shelled out by oil companies to settle bribery charges that were leveled against them.

Federal investigators filed a case against several US oil companies over vessels and equipment that was being shuffled in between countries around the world illegally.

The case against the oil companies involved a freight forwarding company that was operating outside of the US. This company allowed the oil companies to move freight around the world while working outside of the local laws and taxes.

The freight company admitted that it was responsible for forwarding bribes to officials from around the world to allow for oil equipment and freight to be moved without dealing with local laws. This was the basis of the case against the oil companies who were supplying the money for the bribes.

All of the oil companies involved, including Transocean, agreed to pay the settlement money to avoid full criminal prosecution. The Department of Justice has said that this is a step in the right direction for enforcement of illegal freight movements by companies the world over.

The Department of Justice also announced that they would be continuing to work on other cases where bribery has been suspected.

The oil companies have also agreed to full disclosure of their finances to the Department of Justice. Several of the companies were accused of dealing with countries that are currently on the sanctioned list. Part of the plea deal allows the charges of those dealings to be dropped and prosecution deferred.