Ex Willbross Consultant Paid Nigerian Government Officials $6m

PETROLEUM MINISTER OF STATE, ODEIN AJUMOGOBIA. Photo: Reuters.

San Francisco (THEWILL) - The United States Department of Justice thurday, said Paul G. Novak, 43, a former consultant for Willbross International Inc. (WII), pled guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to pay more than $6 million dollars in bribes to top Nigerian government officials, including those of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and members of a political party suspected to be the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).   

Mr. Novak’s guilty plea to a one-count charge of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one substantive count of violating the FCPA, was done before a U.S District Judge Simeon T. Lake III.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer in a statement said, “ The Use of intermediaries to pay bribes will not escape prosecution under the FCPA. The Department will continue to hold accountable all the players in an FCPA scheme-from the companies and their executives who hatch the scheme, to the consultant they retain to carry it out”.

Novak admitted that between late 2003 to March 2005, he conspired with others to make series of corrupt payments running into more than $6 million dollars to Nigerian officials to assist Willbross in obtaining and retaining the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) Project, which had a value of about $387 million dollars at that time.

Novak, and his co-conspirators, Kenneth Tillery, Joseph Steph, Jim Bob Brown and three employees from a German based construction company made the payments to NNPC officials, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), a senior official in the executive branch of the federal government of Nigeria, suspected to be the energy minister at that time, PDP members and officials from the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC).

The plea document said, to secure the funds for the corrupt payments, Steph and others made Willbross West Africa Inc. (WWA) to enter into “consultancy agreements” with two companies Novak represented. The companies were subsequently used as channels to facilitate the payments. The document specifically said Novak used a Lebanese bank account to make the payments to the Nigerians.

Jim Bob Brown and Jason Steph had pled guilty to the same charges in Sept. 2006 and Nov. 2007 respectively. Willbros Group Inc and Willbross Inc. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $22 million dollars criminal penalty, in connection the scheme in may 2008.

Kenneth Tillery is currently a fugitive. He was charged with Novak for his role in the bribery scheme. He served as executive vice president, and later became president of Willbross International Inc. (WII) between 2002 and 2005.

Prosecution said, “Though Tillery was indicted, the charges against him remain mere accusations, and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Nigeria is a top exporter of crude oil, its government officials and politicians are speculated to be the most corrupt in Africa. There have been several cases of corruption and government has not done enough to curtail its spread.

Mr. Novak and his associates will be sentenced on January 28, 2010.