Home
ERBIL - A departmental head at Iraq's South Oil Company (SOC) has fled the country after being accused of accepting bribes paid by a subsidiary of Australian construction firm Leighton Holdings to help it secure contracts in southern Iraq, according to two Iraqi lawmakers, reports The Australian.
Member of the Iraqi parliament's oil and energy committee Uday Awad said an investigation is focused on the head of a department at SOC - Iraq's largest state-owned oil company - who allegedly received bribes from Leighton Offshore in Iraq.
Awad told The Australian that the head of the SOC department, whom he declined to name, could have been the front man for other senior officials to receive the bribes.
It is believed that the SOC official has fled Iraq to a neighboring country. His whereabouts are unknown.
Awad also told The Australian that a group of Iraqi parliament members recently visited the SOC in Basra, where the company's director general told them the accused individual has been identified and is under investigation.
According to The Australian's report, the Iraqi Oil Ministry's inspector general told Dow Jones Newswires last Thursday that is was unclear whether or not Iraqi parties were involved in the bribes allegedly paid by Leighton to secure Iraqi contracts.
The Australian quotes a Leighton Holdings spokesman who said last night: "We are precluded from saying anything or responding as this matter is subject to a federal police investigation".
Last month Leighton Holdings supposedly voluntarily alerted Australian federal police to possible corruption by Leighton Offshore in Iraq.
Mansor al-Timimi, an MP from Basra in southern Iraq, which is home to SOC's headquarters, also told The Australian that the SOC senior official has left Iraq.
A SOC official told The Australian that the oil ministry had investigated the SOC department head and that the man had been removed from his post before he left Iraq.
"We're hearing that he has already fled the country," the SOC official was quoted as saying.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry was not available for comment.
In October 2010 Leighton Offshore was awarded a contract with SOC to install three single point moorings and 120km of 48-inch pipelines in the Arabian Gulf, offshore Iraq.
In October 2011 the subsidiary received further contracts with SOC worth $79m and $518m. The latter was financed and supported through a Japanese Official Development Assistance loan by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Last month Iraq opened the first single point mooring sea terminal capable of handling some 900,000 barrels per day. The terminal was built by Leighton.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Member of the Iraqi parliament's oil and energy committee Uday Awad said an investigation is focused on the head of a department at SOC - Iraq's largest state-owned oil company - who allegedly received bribes from Leighton Offshore in Iraq.
Awad told The Australian that the head of the SOC department, whom he declined to name, could have been the front man for other senior officials to receive the bribes.
It is believed that the SOC official has fled Iraq to a neighboring country. His whereabouts are unknown.
Awad also told The Australian that a group of Iraqi parliament members recently visited the SOC in Basra, where the company's director general told them the accused individual has been identified and is under investigation.
According to The Australian's report, the Iraqi Oil Ministry's inspector general told Dow Jones Newswires last Thursday that is was unclear whether or not Iraqi parties were involved in the bribes allegedly paid by Leighton to secure Iraqi contracts.
The Australian quotes a Leighton Holdings spokesman who said last night: "We are precluded from saying anything or responding as this matter is subject to a federal police investigation".
Last month Leighton Holdings supposedly voluntarily alerted Australian federal police to possible corruption by Leighton Offshore in Iraq.
Mansor al-Timimi, an MP from Basra in southern Iraq, which is home to SOC's headquarters, also told The Australian that the SOC senior official has left Iraq.
A SOC official told The Australian that the oil ministry had investigated the SOC department head and that the man had been removed from his post before he left Iraq.
"We're hearing that he has already fled the country," the SOC official was quoted as saying.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry was not available for comment.
In October 2010 Leighton Offshore was awarded a contract with SOC to install three single point moorings and 120km of 48-inch pipelines in the Arabian Gulf, offshore Iraq.
In October 2011 the subsidiary received further contracts with SOC worth $79m and $518m. The latter was financed and supported through a Japanese Official Development Assistance loan by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Last month Iraq opened the first single point mooring sea terminal capable of handling some 900,000 barrels per day. The terminal was built by Leighton.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
