Friday Roundup

The Bribery Act is not the only thing delayed in the U.K., where in the world is James Tillery, Thai authorities looking into Alliance One and Universal Corp bribe recipients, and corporate directors appear satisfied ... it's all here in the Friday roundup.

BAE U.K. Plea Agreement Delayed

In a recent article in The Times (London), Alex Spence and David Robertson report that the BAE - SFO plea agreement "is unlikely to come before the courts for approval before November."

In February (see here) the SFO announced that it "reached an agreement with BAE Systems that the company will plead guilty" to the offense of "failing to keep reasonably accurate accounting records in relation to its activities in Tanzania." The SFO resolution was controversial given that BAE was viewed by many to have engaged in bribery around the world.

The Times reports "that the SFO fears that a judge may now refuse to approve the BAE settlement or increase the penalties imposed on the company." The article indicates that "BAE, which has always denied bribery, is understood to be frustrated by the slow progress of the SFO case, but the delay is not thought to have had an impact on the company's operations."

James Tillery

In December 2008, James Tillery, a former executive of Willbros International Inc., and Paul Novak, a consultant to the company, were criminally charged "in connection with a conspiracy to pay more than $6 million in bribes to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador ..." (see here).

In November 2009, Novak pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one substantive count of violating the FCPA (see here).

Tillery has apparently been hanging out in Nigeria, but is now apparently in custody according to various Nigerian news outlets. According to the sources, "Tillery was believed to have been handed over by officials of Interpol to officials of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)."

Apparently this occurred "without the knowledge of Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, who is supposed to be notified before such action is taken. Under section 6 of the Extradition Act, a request for extradition is supposed to be sent to the AGF who is supposed to arraign such a deportee before a magistrate court and upon the declaration of the magistrate, the deportee is deported accordingly."

Then it was reported that Tillery's extradition "was stopped by immigration officials at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos because he did not have a travel document."

Then Tillery's Nigerian lawyer apparently stepped in and said that the attempted extradition was a "grave assault on the sovereignty of Nigeria" and a violation of Nigeria's Extradition Act because Tillery renounced his U.S. citizenship and became a Nigerian by naturalization in 2009. Thus, the lawyer argued that the U.S. needed to follow legal steps in Tillery's extradition.

Then it was reported that Justice Abang Okon of the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the Federal Government to halt its alleged plan to extradite Tillery from Nigeria to the U.S.

For more on Willbros Group and other individuals involved in related enforcement actions (see here and here).

Thai Authorities Investigating Alliance One / Universal Corp. Bribe Recipients

Earlier this month, the DOJ and SEC announced a joint FCPA enforcement action against tobacco companies Alliance One International Inc. and Universal Corporation. Certain of the allegations against both companies involved bribe payments to "Thai government officials to secure contracts with the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly (TTM), a Thai government agency, for the sale of tobacco leaf." (See here).

In this prior post, I noted that it is potentially embarrassing for a foreign country to have "one of its own" profiled in a U.S. FCPA enforcement action. With increasing frequency, the end result is that the alleged "foreign official" bribe recipient becomes the subject of an "in-country" investigation.

As noted in this Bangkok Post article:

"A local investigation is expected into US allegations that Thailand Tobacco Monopoly staff accepted US$1.93 million (62 million baht) in bribes to buy Brazilian tobacco. The Department of Special Investigation has asked the Finance Ministry to file a complaint against the TTM staff so it can look into the allegations. DSI director-general Tharit Pengdit told the Bangkok Post yesterday the Finance Ministry, which supervises the state-owned cigarette maker, should file a complaint with the DSI so it can look into the US claims. [...] Sathit Limpongpan, permanent secretary for finance, said his ministry would work with the Justice Ministry to seek information from the US Justice Department and would conduct an initial investigation."

Corporate Directors Are Satisfied

According to a recent legal survey by Corporate Board Member and FTI Consulting (see here), 90% of directors "are satisfied with their in-house legal department's management" of FCPA issues.

A good weekend to all.