Singapore charges two ex-employees of Sembcorp Marine in Brazil graft case (updated)

Seatrium

28/03/2024 05:49

(Adds trading halt, lawyers' response; paragraph 3,6)
       SINGAPORE, March 28 (Reuters) - Authorities in Singapore
charged on Thursday two former officials of Sembcorp Marine with
handing bribes to Brazilian officials to advance the company's
interests in the South American nation, they said in a
statement. 
    Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore and Marine merged in
2023 to form Seatrium  SEAT.SI , which is in talks to pay $110
million in a deferred prosecution agreement regarding the
bribery case in Brazil, the authorities added. 
    Trade in Seatrium shares was suspended for the news. The
stock has dropped 33% this year, underperforming the benchmark
stock index  .STI , which is relatively flat, LSEG data showed.
    Former CEO Wong Weng Sun and ex-manager Lee Fook Kang face
five charges of conspiring to offer a middleman inducements to
aid Sembcorp Marine's Brazilian subsidiaries, according to the
city-state's statement.
    The total sum involved in the offences between 2009 and 2014
amounted to about $44 million, the attorney-general's chambers
and Singapore's Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau added in
the statement.
    Lawyers for Lee said they were not in a position to comment
as they had just been engaged on the matter. A lawyer for Wong
did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
    Wong has also been charged with obstruction of justice after
he allegedly told two Sembcorp employees in 2014 to delete an
email sent by the middleman that contained evidence of bribes.
    Singapore prosecutors were in talks with Seatrium for a
deferred prosecution agreement to pay a penalty of $110 million,
the statement added. 
    Seatrium told the stock exchange on Thursday that the
attorney-general's chambers was agreeable to entering into the
deferred prosecution agreement.    
    It said it was committed to the highest standards of
compliance, including zero tolerance of bribery and corruption. 

 (Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Tom Hogue and
Clarence Fernandez)
 ((Yantoultra.Ngui@thomsonreuters.com;))