US’s Securities & Exchange Commission announced that Luxembourg based global manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products Tenaris will pay more than USD 78 million to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with a bribery scheme involving its Brazilian subsidiary. According to the SEC’s order, the resolution with Tenaris is the result of an alleged bribe scheme involving agents and employees of its Brazilian subsidiary to obtain and retain business from Brazilian state-owned energy company Petróleo Brasileiro for the benefit of Tenaris’s Brazilian subsidiary Confab Industrial. Specifically, the order finds that between 2008 and 2013, approximately USD 10.4 million in bribes was paid to a Brazilian government official in connection with the bidding process at Petrobras. The bribes were funded on behalf of Tenaris Brazilian subsidiary by companies affiliated with Tenaris controlling shareholder.Tenaris consented to the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the findings that it violated the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and agreed to pay more than $78 million in combined disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. The company also agreed to comply with undertakings for a two-year period related to its ongoing remedial efforts.Tenaris had voluntarily notified the SEC and DOJ of this matter in 2016 and believes the resolution with the SEC is in the best interest of the Company and its stakeholders. The Company cooperated fully with investigatorsThis is not the first time Tenaris has been involved in a corruption scheme. In 2011, the company entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement with the Department of Justice and a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the SEC as a result of alleged bribes the company paid to obtain business from a state-owned entity in Uzbekistan. Tenaris separately announced that it was advised last week that the Milan court of first instance overseeing an investigation in Italy into allegedly improper payments made in Brazil prior to 2014 for the supposed benefit of Confab Industrial, a Brazilian subsidiary of the Company, dismissed for lack of jurisdiction the case brought by the public prosecutor against each of Tenaris’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr Paolo Rocca and Board members Mr Gianfelice Rocca & Mr Roberto Bonatti and the Company’s controlling shareholder, San Faustin. The court stated that the criminal proceeding should not even have been initiated. The public prosecutor may appeal the decision.
US’s Securities & Exchange Commission announced that Luxembourg based global manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products Tenaris will pay more than USD 78 million to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with a bribery scheme involving its Brazilian subsidiary. According to the SEC’s order, the resolution with Tenaris is the result of an alleged bribe scheme involving agents and employees of its Brazilian subsidiary to obtain and retain business from Brazilian state-owned energy company Petróleo Brasileiro for the benefit of Tenaris’s Brazilian subsidiary Confab Industrial. Specifically, the order finds that between 2008 and 2013, approximately USD 10.4 million in bribes was paid to a Brazilian government official in connection with the bidding process at Petrobras. The bribes were funded on behalf of Tenaris Brazilian subsidiary by companies affiliated with Tenaris controlling shareholder.Tenaris consented to the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the findings that it violated the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and agreed to pay more than $78 million in combined disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. The company also agreed to comply with undertakings for a two-year period related to its ongoing remedial efforts.Tenaris had voluntarily notified the SEC and DOJ of this matter in 2016 and believes the resolution with the SEC is in the best interest of the Company and its stakeholders. The Company cooperated fully with investigatorsThis is not the first time Tenaris has been involved in a corruption scheme. In 2011, the company entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement with the Department of Justice and a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the SEC as a result of alleged bribes the company paid to obtain business from a state-owned entity in Uzbekistan. Tenaris separately announced that it was advised last week that the Milan court of first instance overseeing an investigation in Italy into allegedly improper payments made in Brazil prior to 2014 for the supposed benefit of Confab Industrial, a Brazilian subsidiary of the Company, dismissed for lack of jurisdiction the case brought by the public prosecutor against each of Tenaris’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr Paolo Rocca and Board members Mr Gianfelice Rocca & Mr Roberto Bonatti and the Company’s controlling shareholder, San Faustin. The court stated that the criminal proceeding should not even have been initiated. The public prosecutor may appeal the decision.
