A company which was caught making bribes to secure contracts in Africa has been ordered to pay more than £2 million in fines and legal costs.. It is the first case in which a UK company has been convicted for overseas bribery contrary to UK law. The company directors involved were also sentenced to suspended prison sentences.
The company and two of its directors were found guilty in 2014 of making corrupt payments totaling nearly £400,000 over 4 years. The fine element of the total payable was calculated by adding the amount of the expected profit on the contracts to be amount of the bribes paid and multiplying the expected profit by 300 per cent.
The directors were also ordered to pay fines calculated to deprive them of the benefit they received form their part in the illegal activity.