Ex-Unaoil manager Sentenced to Three Years in Prison over Iraq Bribery

Kirstin Ridley and Yadarisa Shabong
Friday, July 31, 2020

A former manager of consultancy Unaoil was sentenced to three years in jail by a London court on Thursday – the second Unaoil executive to be jailed for bribing an Iraqi official to secure a $55 million oil deal after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Stephen Whiteley, a 65-year-old Briton, was found guilty by a jury of conspiring to pay more than $500,000 in bribes to secure a contract for offshore mooring buoys after a high-profile, four-year investigation by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Whiteley, who was Unaoil manager for Iraq, Kazakhstan and Angola, was sentenced one week after Ziad Akle, a British-Lebanese former Unaoil Iraq territory manager, was handed a five-year jail sentence over the same charge last week.

Akle said payments were authorized for security purposes. Whiteley denied knowing about payments but said he wanted a "level playing field" during a competitive tender.

Both men plan to appeal against their convictions, their lawyers said.

"He (Whiteley) has co-operated fully with the SFO as they continued their investigation, which first opened in April 2016 - a lengthy period, which, as you can imagine, has taken a significant toll. It is a disappointing result for Stephen and we will be appealing the conviction," said Sam Healey, a partner at JMW Solicitors who is representing Whiteley.

SFO Director Lisa Osofsky said the men exhibited "flagrant greed and callous criminality" as war-torn Iraq battled to reconstruct its oil industry and boost exports following years of military occupation.

"We will not cease in our mission to bring such people to justice," she said.

Basil Al Jarah, Unaoil's 71-year-old former country manager for Iraq, pleaded guilty in the case last year and will be sentenced in October.

Paul Bond, a 68-year-old former sales manager for energy services company SBM Offshore, faces a retrial in January after the jury could not reach a verdict in his case.

Separately, British brothers Cyrus and Saman Ahsani, Unaoil's former chief executive and chief operating officer respectively, pleaded guilty to bribery in the United States last year. They have yet to be sentenced.

 (Reporting by Kirstin Ridley in London and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Categories: People & Company News Energy People Middle East Industry News Activity Iraq

Related Stories

Op-Ed: Kazakhstan’s National O&G Firm Positioning Itself as Global Energy Player

Woodside to Shed Some Trinidad and Tobago Assets for $206M

‘Ultra-Mega’ Offshore Deal for L&T at QatarEnergy LNG’s North Field Gas Scheme

MODEC Gets Shell’s Gato do Mato FPSO Ops and Maintenance Job

EnerMech Names APAC Regional Chief

CIP Reaches Financial Close for Offshore Wind Farm in Taiwan

Second Hai Long Substation Heads to Project Site Offshore Taiwan

Floating LNG Conversion Job Slips Out of Seatrium’s Hands

Transocean’s Drillship to Stay in India Under New $111M Deal

Driven by Oil & Gas, Norway Wealth Fund Approachs $2 Trillion

Current News

Eneos Scoops Jack-Up Drilling Contract Offshore Vietnam

Vietnam to Open Bidding Round for Three Offshore Oil Blocks

VARD Snags $125M Shipbuilding Deal for Subsea Construction Vessel

Mitsui’s STATS Lands Malaysian Pipeline Isolation Job

INEOS Wraps Up Acquisition of CNOOC’s US Oil and Gas Assets

Fire at Petronas Gas Pipeline in Malaysia Sends 63 to Hospital

Japan’s ENEOS Xplora, PVEP Ink Deal for Vietnam Offshore Block

CNOOC Makes Major Oil and Gas Discovery in South China Sea

Valeura’s Assets in Gulf of Thailand Remain Operational After Earthquake

Op-Ed: Kazakhstan’s National O&G Firm Positioning Itself as Global Energy Player

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com