Rolls-Royce to pay more than $800 million to settle bribery charges - U.S. Justice Department

By Joel Schectman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rolls-Royce Plc agreed to pay authorities more than $800 million to resolve charges of bribing officials in six countries in schemes that lasted more than a decade, the U.S. Justice Department and U.K. Serious Fraud Office said in statements Tuesday.

The company admitted to paying officials at state-run energy companies in Kazakhstan, Thailand, Brazil, Azerbaijan, Angola and Iraq more than $35 million in order to win contracts, the Justice Department said.

Among the bribes, Rolls-Royce paid a Brazilian official $1.6 million through a middleman to win numerous oil equipment contracts from Petrobras , U.S. authorities said.

 

"The behaviour uncovered in the course of the investigations by the (U.K.) Serious Fraud Office and other authorities is completely unacceptable and we apologise unreservedly for it," Rolls-Royce Chief Executive Officer Warren East said in a statement.

The company said it had overhauled its systems, culture, training, governance and ethics strategies‎ had all been overhauled, while cutting dramatically the number of intermediaries it uses.

The settlement included agreements with U.S., U.K. and Brazilian authorities who the company agreed to pay $170 million, 497 million British-pounds ($616 million) and $25.6 million respectively, the Justice Department said.

The case is the third resolution related to Petrobras in the United States following a nearly three-year investigation in Brazil dubbed "Operation Car Wash" into corruption at oil company, which has led to dozens of arrests and political upheaval in the country.

Petrobras did not return a request for comment.

(This version of the story adds dropped word in paragraph 7.)

(Additional reporting by Sarah Young and Kristin Ridley in London; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker)