SINGAPORE: Seatrium has agreed to pay US$110 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement over corruption offences in Brazil, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said on Wednesday (Jul 30).
It is a settlement where the prosecution agrees to defer criminal charges against a corporate offender in exchange for the corporation’s agreement to comply with various conditions.
AGC said the public prosecutor and Seatrium entered into the agreement on Wednesday. The public prosecutor will apply to the High Court to approve it.
The agreement will come into force only when the High Court approves it after determining that it is in the interests of justice and that its terms are fair, reasonable and proportionate, said AGC.
Under the terms, Seatrium will be required to pay to the public prosecutor a financial penalty of US$110 million.
“Of this amount, up to US$53 million may be used to offset any fines or criminal penalties paid to the authorities in Brazil, arising from the same or substantially the same facts as those underlying the alleged offences,” said AGC.
Seatrium will also be required to review and make further improvements to its ethics and compliance programme to reduce the risk of a recurrence of any similar conduct.
If it fails to comply with the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement as approved by the High Court, the public prosecutor may apply to terminate the agreement.
In the event of a termination, the public prosecutor may initiate criminal proceedings against the company in respect of the alleged offences, AGC said.
In June last year, Seatrium said that Singapore authorities were investigating offences potentially committed by the company that were linked to a corruption case in Brazil.
The investigation was in connection with Operation Car Wash, a long-running corruption case in Brazil.
Seatrium said in an SGX filing on Wednesday that it has signed a leniency agreement with the public prosecutor’s office in Brazil (MPF) in relation to the Operation Car Wash investigations.
Seatrium on Wednesday added that it expects to sign an equivalent leniency agreement with the Brazilian Attorney-General’s Office (AGU) and the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) in the next few days.
Under the terms of the leniency agreements with all three, Seatrium said it will make a final settlement payment totalling R$728,933,258.58, equivalent to about US$131 million, on the due date for payment.
Seatrium earlier called a trading halt at 8.20am and lifted it about three hours later.
Operation Car Wash began in 2014 as a money-laundering probe into a car wash in Brazil’s capital Brasilia. The operation has since expanded significantly into an extensive investigation into the country’s largest corruption scheme.
The probe revealed illicit kickbacks from corporate executives to influential politicians in exchange for contracts within the state-operated oil giant, Petrobras.
Seatrium was formed in 2023 following the merger of Singapore’s two main offshore and marine companies – Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine (KOM).
