An Aberdeen man found guilty of paying bribes to win oil contracts in war-torn Iraq has appealed against his conviction.
Stephen Whiteley, a former senior executive at Unaoil, allegedly paid around £400,000 in backhanders to win a £43m contract to supply offshore mooring buoys.
He was found guilty in 2020 and ordered by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to repay tens of thousands of pound worth of criminal gains in November.
Whiteley’s decision to challenge the sentence follows the overturning of similar rulings.
In recent months the Court of Appeal has quashed two convictions related to alleged wrongdoings by the Monaco-headquartered oil and gas company.
Paul Bond, a senior sales manager at SBM Offshore, was set free in March having been sentenced in 2021 to three and a half years in prison for conspiring to bribe Iraqi officials.
And in December the Court of Appeal ruled the conviction of Ziad Akle, Unaoil’s Iraq manager, was “unsafe”, quashed his conviction and ruled out a retrial.
He had been sentenced to five years behind bars in July 2020.
Bond launched his attempt to overhaul his conviction following Akle’s win a few months earlier.
Whiteley is now following suit in an attempt to overturn his conviction, which has cast a “dark cloud over his life” and severely impacted his health.
Sam Healey, partner at JMW Solicitors, which represents Mr Whiteley, said: “I can confirm that Stephen Whiteley has submitted an appeal against his conviction – the lengthy investigation by the SFO, with which he co-operated fully, and the trial into his alleged wrongdoing at Unaoil cast a dark cloud over his life for several years and his health has suffered considerably as a consequence.
“The quashing of Mr Akles conviction, and now that of Mr Bond, due to the refusal of the SFO to disclose material to the defence, we believe also makes Mr Whiteley’s conviction unsafe.”
Whiteley was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison in 2020 for allegedly 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 his crimes, the SFO secured a court order to recover £95,864.79 – Whiteley was given 28 days to repay the money.
But it is claimed the SFO’s case is on “shaky ground” and faces spiralling costs following the recent Court of Appeal verdicts.
After Bond’s case crumbled, NGO Spotlight on Corruption said: “The SFO’s conduct in the case bears a number a concerning features which will be subject to independent scrutiny of the agency’s modus operandi – including unusual contact between the SFO’s director and a private investigator, and serious disclosure failings about this contact that led to the quashed conviction.”
The findings of a review of the SFO’s activities, launched in February, are expected any day now.
A spokesperson for the SFO said: “We won’t stop fighting serious fraud, bribery and corruption. Our investigation into Unaoil uncovered the payment of $17m in bribes that were paid to win contracts worth $1.7bn in Iraq. We are aware of Mr Whiteley’s appeal and are considering our next steps.”