Feb 14 2012 |
more articles from
|
Iraq Oil Officials Say Unaware Of Leighton Bribery Probe
Tuesday, Feb 14, 2012
AMMAN (Dow Jones)--Senior Iraqi oil officials say they are unaware of an investigation by Australian police into an alleged illegal payment involving a subsidiary of Leighton Holdings Ltd. (LEI.AU) and a contract to expand the crude-oil export facilities near Basrah.
Dhiaa Jaafar, head of Basrah-based South Oil Company told Dow Jones Newswires on Monday that he has not seen the allegations, or had any contact with authorities concerning the investigation now underway in Australia. A senior official within Iraq's oil ministry in Baghdad also said that the authority, which controls the nation's petroleum industry, has not been informed about the probe, or contacted by Australian police.
Leighton Holdings Ltd. said Monday that Australian police launched an investigation after the construction company notified authorities of a possible illegal payment by one of its subsidiaries linked to work expanding Iraq's crude-oil export facilities. Leighton said it wasn't yet known if there had been any wrongful conduct or whether the company would suffer adverse financial consequences as a result.
In October 2010, Leighton Offshore said it had received a contract worth US$733 million to install three moorings and 120 kilometers of pipeline in the Persian Gulf for Iraq's South Oil Co., part of work to redevelop export facilities from the Fao Terminal near Al Basrah.
Work on the initial contract was due to be completed in the first half of 2012, Leighton had said in its financial 2011 results.
News of the suspect payment came as Leighton said it expected a profit of between 600 million Australian dollars and 650 million Australian dollars (US$642 million and US$695 million), excluding one-time items, for the financial year to June 30, and a similar range for the year through December. The company is moving to a calendar year for its results to bring them into line with majority owner Hochtief AG (HOT.XE) and its parent Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA. (ACS.MC).
-By Hassan Hafidh, Dow Jones Newswires; +962 799 831 831; hassan.hafidh@dowjones.com
--Robb M. Stewart in Melbourne contributed to this report.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
14-02-12 0647GMT
Zawya Comment Policy
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Copyright © 2012 Zawya Ltd. All rights reserved. |
provided by www.zawya.com |
Post Your Comment