Nigeria: Bilfinger fine

German engineering and services company Bilfinger SE has agreed to pay a $32m fine to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by bribing Nigerian government officials. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) charged Bilfinger with violating and conspiring to violate the FCPA anti-bribery provisions. The payments made by Bilfinger were intended to obtain and retain contracts for the $387m Eastern Gas Gathering System project. According to court documents, from late 2003 to June 2005, Bilfinger conspired with Willbros Group, its joint venture partner on the project, to make corrupt payments totalling more than $6m to Nigerian government officials to assist in obtaining and retaining contracts on the scheme.