Dutch company Frank’s International will have to pay the US Treasury US$7.9 million (7.26 million euros) for participating in bribes in Angola between 2008 and 2014, according to an order from the US market regulator.
According to the order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company, a supplier of materials and services for the oil industry, will have to “pay the restitution of $4,176,858 and interest of $821,863 and a civil penalty of $3,000,000 to the Securities and Exchange Commission for transfer to the general fund of the United States Treasury”, for a total of nearly 7.3 million euros.
At issue are bribery schemes that the company, with securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange, assumed it was resorting to because it was otherwise unable to win contracts in Angola.
According to the document that determines the sanction against Frank’s, dated April 26 of this year, the SEC explains that the company was informed by Angolans that it had to create a consulting firm to which the bribes that would allow it to win contracts in the Angolan market would be channeled.
“Between approximately January 2008 and October 2014, Frank’s paid commissions to a sales agent in Angola, even though the officers of Frank’s subsidiary based in the region knew that there was a high likelihood that the agent would use the commissions to bribe Angolan government officials on Frank’s behalf”, the SEC order adds.