UK man pleads guilty in U.S. over KBR Nigeria bribes

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Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - A Briton who worked for a unit of KBR Inc pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. court to taking part in a decade-long scheme to bribe high-level Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion in contracts.

Wojciech Chodan, 72, admitted to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations for bribes he and others paid from 1994 to 2004, after they met at "crucial junctures" with successive holders of a top-level office in Nigeria's executive branch, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

The bribes were paid to get contracts for a KBR-run joint venture to build and expand Nigeria's Bonny Island liquefied natural gas terminal. KBR sought to avoid an FCPA breach by using shell companies in Portugal and not appointing U.S. citizens to run them, according to previous court filings.

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Chodan, after being extradited from the United Kingdom on Friday, pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court in Houston to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA.

Sentencing is set for February 22, 2011, when Chodan faces up to five years in prison. Chodan has also agreed to forfeit $726,885, and assets frozen in his Swiss bank account will be transferred to the United States, a court document said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B55CH20101206