Drilling company fined £5.6 million after corruption report

The Crown Office has reported that the Civil Recovery Unit is to recover £5.6 million under Proceeds of Crime legislation after a Scottish drilling company accepted that it had benefited from unlawful conduct.

Abbot Group Limited (“Abbot”), which is based in Aberdeen, admitted that it had benefited from corrupt payments made in connection with a contract entered into by one of its overseas subsidiaries and an overseas oil and gas company.

The contract was entered into in 2006 and the payments were made in 2007. The sum to be paid by Abbot represents the profit made by the company under the contract.  Since then, the ownership and structure of Abbot has changed significantly.

The corrupt payments were brought to light in May 2011 following enquiries by an overseas tax authority which resulted in an investigation by a firm of solicitors and a firm of accountants instructed by Abbot itself.  Abbot reported the results of the investigation to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in July 2012 under the self-reporting initiative.

In view of any criminal investigation of others that may follow, the Crown Office is not able to provide any further details of the corrupt payments.