Petrofac sets up ethics committee amid serious fraud probe

Oilfield services provider Petrofac has established a new compliance and ethics committee of the board amid an investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO). 

The company explained on Wednesday that this committee will be responsible for overseeing its compliance and ethics program, as well as the continued monitoring of the effectiveness of the company’s code of conduct and other Petrofac policies and standards in relation to compliance and ethics.

These include the standard for the prevention of bribery and corruption and the ethical, social and regulatory risk policy.

The committee will comprise three non-executive directors – George Pierson as Committee Chairman, Andrea Abt and Matthias Bichsel.

The company has also appointed Edward Sparrow as senior external specialist to oversee the company’s management of, and response to, the investigation by the UK Serious Fraud Office announced in May. Sparrow is a partner in the international law firm, Ashurst LLP with experience in liaising with regulators and prosecutors.

The UK government watchdog SFO confirmed back in May it was investigating the activities of Petrofac for suspected bribery, corruption and money laundering in relation to its ongoing investigation into the activities of the Monaco-based Unaoil involved in an industry-wide corruption scandal which came to light last year.

Following the launch of investigation, Petrofac suspended its COO Marwan Chedid who then resigned from the company’s board. That is when Petrofac announced a number of decisions, including forming a committee to be solely responsible for the company’s engagement with the SFO and to oversee the company’s response to the investigation.

Offshore Energy Today Staff