SFO brings further charges against two people in ongoing Unaoil investigation
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced that it is bringing further charges in the ongoing investigation into accusations of bribery, corruption and money laundering at Unaoil.
The SFO said today that Basil Al Jarah and Ziad Akle have been charged with conspiracy to give corrupt payments to secure the award of a contract worth $733m (£545.5m) to Leighton Contractors Singapore for a project to build two oil pipelines in southern Iraq.
Read more: Serious Fraud Office charges two in Unaoil investigation
The investigation into the Monaco-based oil company, which is still ongoing, started in March 2016.
The two were first charged in November last year with conspiracy to make corrupt payments to secure contracts in Iraq to Unaoil’s client SBM Offshore between June 2005 and August 2011.
Al Jarah, 68, was the company’s Iraq partner and Akle, 43, was territory manager for Iraq.
Both of the accused will be appearing before Westminster Magistrates Court tomorrow. Al Jarah will be represented by the London-based law firm Brown Rudnick and Akle by the New York-based firm White & Case.
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