In the wake of the Siemens AG plea, DOJ recently announced the conclusion of another FCPA matter.
A former executive and a consultant of Willbros International
Inc. (WII), a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc. (Willbros), have been charged in connection with a conspiracy to pay more than $6 million in bribes to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced today.
James K. Tillery, 49, a former executive of WII, and Paul G. Novak, 41, a former onsultant to WII, were charged in an indictment unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Houston with conspiring to make more than $6 million in corrupt payments to Nigerian and Ecuadorian government officials. The bribes were allegedly paid in order to obtain and retain gas pipeline construction and rehabilitation business from state-owned oil companies in Nigeria and Ecuador in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The four-count indictment charges Tillery and Novak with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA in connection with the authorization of specific corrupt payments to officials in Nigeria and Ecuador, and one count of conspiring to launder the bribe payments through purported consulting companies controlled by Novak.