Posted by By UCHE USIM on
Even as the dust raised by the Siemens and Wilbros bribery scandals are yet to settle, another foreign company doing business in Nigeria, Bristow Helicopters, has been caught in a similar sleaze web.
* Another multinational, Bristow Helicopters in $.4m tax fraud
Even as the dust raised by the Siemens and Wilbros bribery scandals are yet to settle, another foreign company doing business in Nigeria, Bristow Helicopters, has been caught in a similar sleaze web.
Africa Oil and Gas, in its October edition, reported that Bristow Group had settled a case in which U.S regulatory authorities accused the company of bribing Nigerian tax officials to the tune of $423, 000, in exchange for reduced employment taxes. The fraud was committed in 2003 and 2004.
Quoting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the report further said that Bristow neither admitted nor denied the charges, but agreed to stop violating Nigeria's anti-bribery laws.
Contacted, Area Manager of Bristow Nigeria Operations, Capt Dapo Oyeleke, requested for time to address the questions raised. Before then, Oyeleke, maintained that the matter had been trashed out in one of their management meetings as well as the company's audit report, arguing that the company had nothing to hide over an issue he described as 'old".
Reached again to firm up the interview appointment, Oyeleke only gave out the telephone number of a US contact person, apparently who would be in a better position to address the issue.
But at the heart of the matter is that two Bristow affiliates were said to have under reported their payroll expenses in Nigeria.
Following the settlement, the company, according to the report, is would now save about $1million it had set aside for anticipated cost.
The fraud was said to have been discovered by the parent company, and swiftly reported the Nigerian affiliate to the SEC.