Ex-SembMarine Brazil Director Charged with Bribery, Money Laundering

Offshore rig builder Sembcorp Marine has said that its Brazil subsidiary Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz's former director has been charged for corruption and money laundering. A former Sembcorp Marine consultant has also been charged.

SembcorpMarine said Sunday: "The Company wishes to update that it has come to the Company’s attention on 1 February 2020, the Ministério Público Federal in Brazil (“MPF”) have filed charges against Mr. Guilherme Esteves de Jesus (“GDJ”) for money laundering and ex-employee Mr. Martin Cheah Kok Choon for money laundering and corruption in connection with certain drilling rig construction contracts entered into by subsidiaries of the Company with Sete Brasil in 2012."

Martin Cheah is the former President of Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz Ltda (“EJA”), SembMarine's Brazilian subsidiary whose employment with the SCM group was terminated in June 2015. 

Also, according to SembcorpMarine, companies connected to Guilherme Esteves de Jesuwere engaged by the company’s subsidiaries as consultants in Brazil, "with all such consultancy contracts having been suspended, and remain suspended, by the SCM group indefinitely."

SembCorp Marine offices in Brazil were last year raided by the Brazilian authorities, in relation to the Operation Car Wash in Brazil, a years-long probe into a huge corruption scandal involving the Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras.

Federal prosecutors in Brazil last year said they had arrested Esteves de Jesus on "strong indications" he transferred $9 million to Choon as part of a  scheme in which Sembcorp Marine paid bribes to Petrobras, in turn for contracts.

Sembcorp, which had won contracts worth $5.6 billion to build seven drillships for Sete, that would then be leased to Petrobras, in October 2019 reached the final settlement of the claims under all contracts with Sete Group.

 Upon the fulfillment of the conditions precedent, Sembcorp Marine said at the time, all 7 contracts will be terminated and the parties will mutually release each other from all claims in relation to the contracts.