The UK Serious Fraud Office Wednesday charged logistics and freight operations company F.H. Bertling Ltd and seven individuals with bribing an agent of the ANGOLAN STATE OIL COMPANY, SONANGOL.
The defendants face one count of making corrupt payments contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.
The SFO said:-
- The bribery was intended “to further F.H. Bertling’s business operations” in Angola.
The individuals named are:-
- Peter Ferdinand, 77
- Marc Schweiger, 46
- Stephen Emler, 48
- Joerg Blumberg, 67
- Dirk Juergensen, 45
- Giuseppe Morreale, 61
- Ralf Peterson, 72
F.H. Bertling Ltd. is a UK-based subsidiary of the Germany-headquartered Bertling Group.
The group has 65 subsidiaries in 35 countries with over 1,100 employees.
The alleged bribery took place between January 2005 and December 2006.
The SFO said:-
- The defendants “have been requisitioned to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on August 4,”
- it accepted the case for investigation in September 2014 but didn’t announce it before Wednesday.