Three units of British oil services firm Vetco International Ltd. pleaded guilty in a US court to bribing Nigerian officials and agreed to pay $26m in criminal fines.
The Justice Department said in a statement on Tuesday that the Vetco subsidiaries� Vetco Gray Controls Inc., Vetco Gray Controls Ltd., and Vetco Gray UK Ltd.� had pleaded guilty at a court hearing on Tuesday in a Texas federal court.
�The total fine amount represents the largest criminal fine to date in a FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) prosecution by the Justice Department,� the statement said.
The three Vetco subsidiaries were charged with bribing unnamed Nigerian government officials with payments amounting to $2.1m between 2002 and 2005.
US investigators said the corrupt payments were made to ensure that company officials received �preferential treatment� when they passed through Nigerian customs checks.
Aside from the overall fine, the three firms have also agreed to improve their compliance programmes.
The Justice Department said the bribes were transferred to the Nigerian officials after Vetco�s subsidiaries began providing engineering and procurement services for Nigeria�s first deepwater oil drilling project, the Bonga project.
It subsidaries were also accused of paying separate bribes totalling over $1m to Nigerian officials responsible for approving contract work on oil exploration projects.