Timeline: Seatrium’s corruption offences in Brazil unravelled
THE Business Times outlines the sequence of events involving Singapore companies – Sembmarine (now called Seatrium) and Keppel Offshore and Marine (Keppel O&M) – in Brazil’s Operation Car Wash:
July 2016
Former Keppel agent Zwi Skornicki says company’s executives authorised him to bribe public officials in Brazil in exchange for Petrobras contracts. Keppel terminates agency relationship with Skornicki.
January 2018
Keppel O&M readies to pay fines amounting to US$422.2 million to authorities in the US, Brazil and Singapore.
Keppel O&M’s wholly owned unit Keppel Fels Brasil strikes a leniency agreement with the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Brazil, and Keppel O&M USA agrees to plead guilty in line with a plea agreement with the US Department of Justice.
February 2018
Several former key executives of Keppel and its units arrested in connection with the Singapore authorities’ investigation into the corruption scandal.
July 2019
Sembmarine says its yard in the south-eastern state of Brazil was raided, and the facility’s former president was being investigated.
Company lodges suspicious transaction report a week later on Jul 8, 2019, with the Commercial Affairs Department.
October 2019
Keppel and Sembmarine reach settlements with Sete Brasil for oil rig-building contracts worth billions of dollars after the Brazilian company was forced to file for bankruptcy.
February 2020
Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz’s (EJA) former president Martin Cheah charged with money laundering and corruption by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Brazil.
Another individual, Guilherme Esteves de Jesus, is also charged with money laundering. Companies connected to him were engaged by Sembmarine’s subsidiaries as consultants in Brazil.
September 2020
Brazil extends Operation Car Wash until Jan 31, 2021.
December 2022
Keppel O&M commits to pay 343.6 million reais (S$93.1 million) in fines and damages to the Brazilian Federal Treasury and Petrobras.
January 2023
Six former Keppel O&M staff issued stern warnings for offences related to bribe payments to Petrobras officials. The individuals were not named.
March 2023
Sembmarine announces that its unit EJA is being investigated for “alleged irregularities” in its practices.
Sembmarine later clarifies that preliminary administrative proceedings started by Brazil’s Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) against EJA are related to past conduct linked to Operation Car Wash.
April 2023
Proceedings against EJA are suspended by the CGU.
May 2023
Seatrium announces that it is being investigated by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau for alleged corruption offences.
December 2023
Cheah and de Jesus are acquitted of all charges stemming from Operation Car Wash.
February 2024
Seatrium reaches in-principle settlement agreements with Brazilian authorities, including a settlement payment of 670.7 million Brazilian reals (S$182.4 million) and a S$82.4 million provision for indemnity to Keppel.
