• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
  • Volunteer
    • Internship with The Online Citizen
  • Donation
  • Subscription
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
  • zh-hans 简体中文
  • en English
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Did Keppel management lie to the public?

by onlinecitizen
29/12/2017
in Commentaries
Reading Time: 3min read
0

Photo from project webpage of Keppel FELS Brasil

by Vincent Low

In the Brazilian bribery case involving Keppel Offshore & Marine, some US$55 million (SGD$73.5 million) were reported to have been paid by a Keppel agent to Brazilian govt officials in order to secure deals for Keppel in Brazil. These “improper payments” were made over a period from 2001 to 2014, and they were carried out with the knowledge or approval of former Keppel senior executives.

Bloomberg broke the news last year on 3 August, reporting on how the Brazilian agent, Zwi Skornicki, testified in a Brazilian court naming five of the Keppel senior executives, which include then Keppel Offshore & Marine CEO Chow Yew Yuen, who had authorized him to bribe the officials.

Keppel’s management at first denies bribery involvement

When Bloomberg broke the news, Keppel’s management immediately responded on the same day, denying its involvement in the bribery case.

Keppel in its public statement, stated:

“Keppel strongly denies the allegations reportedly made that Keppel executives authorised Mr Skornicki to pay bribes on its behalf. None of the individuals named in the article, including the current CEO of Keppel Offshore and Marine Mr Chow Yew Yuen, have ever authorised Mr Skornicki to make any payments as bribes.”

The public statement was also made via SGXNET, where Singapore listed companies make their corporate announcements to inform the market with regard to their corporate development and activities.

Seven months later in March this year, Keppel issued a statement saying that Keppel Offshore & Marine CEO Chow Yew Yuen would “retire” with effect from 31 March 2017.

Keppel now acknowledges its bribery involvement

And last week (23 Dec 2017), Keppel issued a new statement finally acknowledging that the corrupt payments made by their agent to Brazilian officials were “made with knowledge or approval” of former senior executives of Keppel.

“As announced in October 2016, Keppel undertook a thorough internal investigation, identified certain suspicious transactions involving Mr Skornicki, and cooperated fully and extensively with the authorities to resolve the issues arising from or in connection with those transactions,” Keppel said.

“The authorities recognise Keppel’s cooperation in the investigations and its extensive remedial measures, which involved significant enhancements to compliance and internal controls systems across the Keppel Group, and disciplinary action against individuals involved in the misconduct.”

Dr Lee Boon Yang, Keppel Chairman, apologized, “We regret and are deeply disappointed by the actions that we now know to have taken place at the Group’s offshore and marine business in Brazil from around 2001 to 2014.”

He assured the public that “such unacceptable behavior will not be repeated” in Keppel.

Dr Lee was a former minister and member of parliament from the People’s Action Party who had been appointed as the chairman of the board of Keppel Corporation since 2009.

Mr Loh Chin Hua, CEO of Keppel Corp which is the parent company of Keppel Offshore & Marine, added, “We have zero tolerance for corruption… Given Keppel’s strong track record and capabilities, I am confident that we will emerge as a more disciplined and sustainable company, better able to pursue our growth plans.”

Both Dr Lee’s and Mr Loh’s names did not appear among the five names mentioned by the agent in the Brazilian court.

In any case, it appears that the statement made by Keppel’s management on 3 Aug 2016 that they didn’t authorize its agent to make bribery payments, was false.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Recent Posts

  • Facebook bans Myanmar military accounts citing the coup
  • PSP’s Hazel Poa call for more transparency on National Reserves so MPs can make informed decisions on a Budget
  • 137 NGOs from 31 countries ask UN for Myanmar arms embargo
  • S’pore receives first shipment of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, but has yet to approve for use
  • Is it time to buy an electric motorcycle in Singapore?
  • How can the torture of a human being over 10 months take place under the watch of a police officer?

Trending posts

Mayors of Singapore

Desmond Lee highlights young couple received full $80K HDB grant; Grant means their combined salary is less than $1.5K

Kranji woodland saga: Former HDB deputy CEO says wrong to push responsibility to contractors

Graduates with fake degrees working in Singapore is an issue that goes back a long time

Can LTA and Minister Ong Ye Kung justify why was I summoned for riding my e-scooter on a walkway when every other riders are doing the same?

Myanmar protestors call for boycott of Singapore products, says S’pore shows lack of support to the people of Myanmar

Load More
December 2017
MTWTFSS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Nov   Jun »
  • About Us
  • Volunteer
  • Donation
  • Subscription
  • Letter submission
  • Contact Us

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

wpDiscuz
0
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x
| Reply