Two former Seatrium executives, including ex-Sembcorp Marine CEO, charged with bribing Brazilian officials

DEFERRED PROSECUTION 

Authorities also said in its press release on Thursday that the public prosecutor is in discussions with Seatrium on a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) about the alleged corruption offences in Brazil. 

A DPA 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. These can include an admission of wrongdoing, payment of financial penalties and implementation of corporate reform. 

“Under the proposed DPA, the company will be required to pay a financial penalty of US$110 million,” said the authorities. 

“Of this amount, US$53 million may be used to offset the settlement payment totalling 670,699,731.73 Brazilian reals (US$134.5 million) under the in-principle settlement agreements that the company has reached with the authorities in Brazil.”

The content and terms of the DPA remain to be finalised by the public prosecutor and Seatrium, and will have to be approved by the General Division of the High Court.

OPERATION CAR WASH

CPIB announced in May 2023 the start of its probe into Seatrium and individuals from the company for alleged corruption offences that occurred in Brazil.

When asked by CNA at the time if the alleged offences by Seatrium were linked to a multimillion-dollar bribery case involving former KOM employees and Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, CPIB declined to comment.

But it came two months after Seatrium announced that its subsidiary EJA was being investigated for “alleged irregularities” over its practices. 

Seatrium said soon after that the proceedings related generally to “past conduct investigated by the Brazilian authorities in connection with Operation Car Wash”. A month later, however, Seatrium announced that preliminary administrative proceedings against its Brazilian subsidiary were suspended.

Operation Car Wash began in 2014 as a money-laundering probe into a car wash in Brazil’s capital Brasilia, and it turned out to be anything but a routine investigation.

The operation expanded significantly, evolving into an extensive investigation into Brazil’s largest corruption scheme.

As the evidence mounted, the probe revealed illicit kickbacks from corporate executives to influential politicians in exchange for contracts within the state-operated oil giant, Petrobras.

Additional reporting by Davina Tham.