Acting on information received, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) commenced investigations against Seatrium Limited on alleged corruption offences that occurred in Brazil.
Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) merged to establish Seatrium. According to international news, for more than ten years, corruption cases in Brazil have followed both businesses.
The Straits Times, a local news agency, reported that Brazil’s Sete Brasil awarded SembCorp Marine seven drillship contracts totaling US$5.6 billion in 2012. Guilherme Esteves de Jesus, a Brazilian agent involved in the transactions, was indicted for money laundering and imprisoned in 2020.
Furtermore, CPIB had issued harsh warnings in January to six former top management employees of Keppel O&M about bribe payments connected to Petrobras contracts in Brazil. The six are accused of working together to pay bribes to foreign consultants working on Keppel O&M’s business projects in Brazil totaling roughly US$55 million.
Following that, the funds were used to bribe employees of the Brazilian state-owned enterprise in relation to rig-building contracts that it or one of its affiliated companies had given to Keppel O&M.
Reportedly, in a statement released today, Seatrium stated its opinion that CPIB’s investigation into the company is connected to incidents that took place earlier than 2015 and to the Sembcorp Marine group that was active at that time. It further stated that those incidents occurred before the merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine, which only occurred in February 2023.
As investigations are ongoing, CPIB stated it will not be able to provide further details at this juncture. CPIB closed its statement by highlighting that Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. CPIB also stated that it investigates without fear or favor and will not hesitate to take action against any parties involved in corrupt activities.
