Executive of Construction Company Willbros Guilty of Bribing Nigerian Officials

A Texas man pleaded guilty today to bribing Nigerian officials in return for a natural gas pipeline contract for Willbros International, Incorporated (WII), a subsidiary of Willbros Group, Inc (WGI) of Houston. The US Department of Justice announced the guilty plea today in a press release.

Jason Edward Steph, a former senior executive working for WII, was indicted earlier this year, and today went before a federal judge and entered his guilty plea. Steph is being convicted of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). As part of Steph's plea agreement, he is working with the continuing investigation into this matter by the DOJ's Fraud Section, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division. Steph now faces up to five years in prison and up to a quarter of a million dollars in fines. His sentencing is scheduled for January 2008.

Steph has admitted to working with another WGI executive and two WII consultants in paying officials from the Nigerian state-owed oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, and its subsidiary, National Petroleum Investment Management Services in order to obtain the contract for a gas pipeline in Nigeria. These bribes took place in late 2003. There were others involved in the scheme from a German engineering firm as well. In addition to the officials from the Nigerian companies, payments were also made to a Nigerian political party and a member of the Nigerian federal government.

Steph went on to admit that in 2005, he, another WII executive, and others had made more payments totaling $1.8 million to other government officials in order to maintain the work on Nigerian gas infrastructure projects. The other WII executive, Jim Bob Brown, was indicted and pleaded guilty to violating the FCPA last September. Brown furthermore was found guilty of a similar bribery scheme in Ecuador.

Willbros announced the West Africa Gas Pipeline contract in December 2004. However, less than a month later, the president of WII resigned amid tax irregularities in certain South American projects such as the project in Ecuador in which Brown was involved. It was at that time that investigations into WII practices and employee conduct began. The Willbros Group had to delay posting earnings for 2004 and the first two quarters of 2005 as a result of the improprieties.

In early 2006, Willbros suffered another blow to its business in Nigeria when nine employees were taken hostage from a pipelaying ship on a different project. Willbros has since sold off its interests in the Nigerian market.

Willbros Group has taken action to inform its employees of the harsh consequences for violating the Company's ethics policies and the FCPA. All employees are urged to inform company officials of any possible wrongdoing they believe to be a violation. However, the corruption blight on the Willbros record is noticeable even on the Willbros website: The Company history page ends in 2003, and there is no mention of the last four years.

Source: US Department of Justice, Willbros Group