By Joel Schectman And Sara Schaefer Muñoz
Colombian authorities this week arrested six current and former
employees of the state-run oil company Ecopetrol SA, charging them
with accepting bribes from the oil services firm PetroTiger
Ltd.
The arrests came in a sweep across Bogotá, Bucaramanga, and
other cities. Colombian prosecutors allege those arrested accepted
bribes from PetroTiger totaling around 2 billion Colombian pesos,
or $800,000.
One of those former Ecopetrol employees charged, David Duran,
has already been named in a closely watched case against former
PetroTiger Chief Executive Joseph Sigelman. U.S. prosecutors allege
Mr. Sigelman and other executives at the company paid Mr. Duran
$333,500 in bribes funneled through a sham consulting contract to
Mr. Duran's wife, Johanna Navarro, in exchange for business from
Ecopetrol. Ms. Navarro was arrested and charged this week in
Colombia in addition to the other individuals.
Diana Maya, an attorney for Mr. Duran and Ms. Navarro, said her
clients are innocent and that the money transferred to Ms.
Navarro's account wasn't in return for any favor. Mr. Sigelman
maintains his innocence.
The Colombian allegations appear to go beyond those leveled by
U.S. prosecutors at Mr. Sigelman, who has only been accused of
paying off Mr. Duran.
The arrests come just a month before Mr. Sigelman will go to
trial in Camden, N.J., on charges that he violated the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act, which bars bribery of public officials.
Because Ecopetrol is a state-owned company, the U.S. prosecutors
say Mr. Duran is considered an official under the FCPA.
An Ecopetrol spokesman said the current executives have been
suspended and the company is continuing to cooperate with the
Colombian prosecutor's office.
An attorney for PetroTiger didn't immediately respond to
requests for comment. In a May 2014 letter to PetroTiger, reviewed
by The Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department wrote that it
didn't intend to prosecute the company. PetroTiger board members
reported bribery allegations involving Mr. Sigelman to U.S. and
Colombian authorities in 2011, according to people close to the
company.
In recent years, U.S. authorities have been cracking down on
bribery by U.S. companies. The FCPA doesn't authorize U.S.
authorities to bring charges against the foreign officials who take
the bribes. But U.S. investigators have been working more closely
with overseas law enforcement to help gather evidence needed to
prosecute corrupt officials in their home countries. In the
PetroTiger case, U.S. authorities have said they have assisted
Colombian law enforcement in its investigation, while pressing
charges against Mr. Sigelman.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to
comment.
The U.S. case against Mr. Sigelman will test the U.S. Justice
Department's new, tougher approach to prosecuting overseas bribery,
that uses tools like undercover informants and secret video
recordings that are more closely associated with drug crimes than
white-collar prosecution. For example, in an attempt to incriminate
Mr. Sigelman, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents convinced his
former general counsel Gregory Weisman to wear a secret
video-camera recording of the former chief executive discussing the
allegations. Mr. Weisman has since pleaded guilty to FCPA
charges.
Write to Joel Schectman at joel.schectman@wsj.com
and Sara Schaefer Muñoz at Sara.Schaefer-Munoz@wsj.com
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