A former senior executive from Unaoil has been ordered to repay tens of thousands of pounds worth of criminal gains.
Aberdeen man Stephen Whiteley was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison in 2020 for paying around £400,000 in bribes to win a lucrative oil and gas contract in war-torn Iraq.
After an investigation into the proceeds of Whiteley’s crimes, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured a court order to recover £95,864.79.
The full amount must now be paid into the public purse within 28 days.
Earlier this year, the SFO was praised by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) for its work to recover the proceeds of crime, with cases “handled proactively and efficiently by dedicated and skilled staff.”
This latest recovery means the SFO’s confiscation of illicit gains since 2017 stands at well over £1.2 billion.
Other notable successes include the £1.2m secured from the luxury West London property of corrupt Brazilian agent Julio Faerman, and the £2m recouped from the sale of two properties and a cache of jewellery linked to suspected Birmingham fraudster Nisar Afzal.
Commenting on today’s court order, Emma Luxton, head of proceeds of crime and international assistance at the SFO, said: “The SFO relentlessly pursues those who line their own pockets with illicit gains and we have a proud record of recovering funds for victims and for the UK taxpayer.”
Stephen Whiteley, a former territory manager for Unaoil, was found guilty in July 2020 of paying £400,000 in bribes to win a £43m contract to supply offshore mooring buoys.
The SFO secured the convictions against Whiteley and three other senior oil executives in an investigation which, at the time, was the UK’s biggest ongoing corruption trial.
It uncovered schemes to pay a total about £12m in bribes to win £1.24bn in contracts for Monaco-headquartered Unaoil in Iraq.
Just last month, the SFO announced that Petrofac had been ordered to pay £77m after it admitted failing to prevent senior executives from handing out £32m in bribes to win over £2.6bn in oil and gas contracts in the Middle East.
It was the third set of convictions in the case after David Lufkin, former head of sales at Petrofac, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of bribery in 2019 and 3 counts of bribery in 2021.
The SFO’s Petrofac investigation originated from its investigation into Unaoil.
The SFO’s Proceeds of Crime Division continues to investigate the criminal gains of the convicted Unaoil executives.