Jonathan Kinnear QC and Howard Watkinson act for SFO in respect of guilty pleas to the winning of multi-billion dollar contracts in the UAE
In connection with the SFO’s ongoing investigation into Petrofac Limited and its subsidiaries (Petrofac), David Lufkin, a British national and the former Global Head of Sales at Petrofac, yesterday pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to three counts of bribery. The offences relate to corrupt offers and payments made between 2012 and 2018 to influence the award of contracts to Petrofac in the United Arab Emirates worth approximately $3.3 billion.
Specifically, Mr Lufkin has pleaded guilty to his role in offering and making corrupt payments to agents to influence the award of an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to Petrofac in 2013 (and a variation to that contract awarded in 2014) on the Upper Zakum UZ750 Field Development Project, and a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract awarded to Petrofac in 2014 on the Bab Integrated Facilities Project, each located in Abu Dhabi. Total payments of approximately $30 million were made, or were due to be made, by Petrofac to those agents in connection with these contracts.
These charges are in addition to eleven charges of bribery already brought by the SFO, to which Mr Lufkin pleaded guilty in February 2019. Those charges related to corrupt offers to influence the award of contracts to Petrofac in Iraq worth in excess of $730 million and in Saudi Arabia worth in excess of $3.5 billion.
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