* Petrofac and former executive had pleaded guilty
* Second guilty plea secured by Serious Fraud Office in 6
months
* Penalty smaller than feared, but firm will still refinance
(Adds detail)
By Shadia Nasralla
Oct 4 (Reuters) - British oil services company Petrofac
was fined 77 million pounds ($105 million) on Monday and
a former executive jailed after they pleaded guilty to bribery
in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The penalty from Southwark Crown Court in London is less
than the $240 million the company had said it might face for
failing to prevent bribery between 2011 and 2017.
Its shares jumped as much as 17% after the announcement to
their highest since June 2020.
A spokesperson for the company said former global head of
sales David Lufkin, who pleaded guilty to 14 counts of bribing
agents with more than $80 million to influence around $7.5
billion of contracts, was sentenced to two years, 18 months of
which were suspended.
Lufkin's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
"All employees involved in the charges have left the
business. This concludes the Serious Fraud Office's
investigation into the company. In determining the penalty, the
Court and the Serious Fraud Office acknowledged Petrofac's
corporate reform," the company said.
Petrofac intends to proceed with a refinancing flagged ahead
of the sentence, which could include raising debt or equity.
With the four-year investigation by Britain's Serious Fraud
Office (SFO) hanging over its past contracts, Petrofac has
struggled to secure key contracts in the Middle East and has
seen its shares battered.
The case marked the second corporate guilty plea secured by
the SFO in about five months.
Former Airbus subsidiary GPT Special Project
Management pleaded guilty to corruption over military contracts
for Saudi Arabia in April.
($1 = 0.7363 pounds)
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla Additional reporting by Yadarisa
Shabong and Kirstin Ridley
Editing by Anil D'Silva and Mark Potter)
Petrofac (PFC)
