Former Willbros International Consultant Pleads Guilty to $6 Million Foreign Bribery Scheme

Former Willbros International Consultant Pleads Guilty to $6 Million Foreign
Bribery Scheme

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A former consultant for
Willbros International Inc. (WII), a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros
Group Inc. (Willbros), pleaded guilty today to engaging in a conspiracy to pay
more than $6 million in bribes to government officials of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria and officials from a Nigerian political party, announced Assistant
Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Assistant
Director Joseph Persichini Jr., of the FBI's Washington Field Office.

Paul G. Novak, 43, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Simeon T. Lake
III in Houston to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act (FCPA) and one substantive count of violating the FCPA.
Sentencing has been scheduled for Feb. 19, 2010.

"The use of intermediaries to pay bribes will not escape prosecution under the
FCPA," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. "The Department will
continue to hold accountable all the players in an FCPA scheme - from the
companies and their executives who hatch the scheme, to the consultant they
retain to carry it out."

"The FBI is committed to investigating and weeding out corruption that
inhibits honest business practices around the globe," said Assistant Director
Persichini.

In his plea, Novak admitted that from approximately late-2003 to March 2005,
he conspired with others to make a series of corrupt payments totaling more
than $6 million to various Nigerian government officials and officials from a
Nigerian political party to assist Willbros in obtaining and retaining the
Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) Project, which was valued at approximately
$387 million. The EGGS project was a natural gas pipeline system in the Niger
Delta designed to relieve existing pipeline capacity constraints.

According to information contained in plea documents, Novak, along with
alleged co-conspirators Kenneth Tillery, Jason Steph, Jim Bob Brown, three
employees from a German construction company based in Mannheim, Germany agreed
to make the corrupt payments to, among others, government officials from the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the National Petroleum
Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), a senior official in the executive
branch of the federal government of Nigeria, members of a Nigerian political
party and officials from the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria
Ltd. (SPDC). According to court documents, the bribes were paid to assist in
obtaining and retaining the EGGS project and additional optional scopes of
work.

According to information contained in plea documents, to secure the funds for
those corrupt payments, Steph and others caused Willbros West Africa Inc.
(WWA), a subsidiary of Willbros, to enter into so-called "consultancy
agreements" with two consulting companies Novak represented in exchange for
purportedly legitimate consultancy services. In reality, those consulting
companies were used to facilitate the payment of bribes. Specifically, the
consulting companies would invoice WWA for purported consulting services and
would receive payment from WII's bank account in Houston to the consulting
companies' bank accounts in Lebanon. Novak would then use money from the
Lebanese bank accounts to pay bribes to the various Nigerian officials.

In addition to Novak, to date, two Willbros employees have pleaded guilty for
their roles in the EGGS bribery scheme and Willbros has entered into a
deferred prosecution agreement:

-- On Sept. 14, 2006, Jim Bob Brown, a former Willbros executive, pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, in connection
with his role in making corrupt payments to Nigerian government
officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract and in connection
with
his role in making corrupt payments in Ecuador. Brown's sentencing is
currently scheduled for Jan. 28, 2010.
-- On Nov. 5, 2007, Jason Steph, also a former Willbros executive,
pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, in connection
with his role in making corrupt payments to Nigerian government
officials to obtain and retain the EGGS contract. Steph's sentencing
is
also scheduled for Jan. 28, 2010.

-- On May 14, 2008, Willbros Group Inc. and Willbros International Inc.
entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $22
million criminal penalty, in connection with the company's payment of
bribes to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador.

Kenneth Tillery was charged, along with Novak, for his alleged role in the
bribery scheme in an indictment unsealed on Dec. 19, 2008. According to the
indictment, Tillery was a WII employee and executive from the 1980s through
January 2005. From 2002 until January 2005, Tillery served as executive vice
president and, later, as president of WII. Tillery remains a fugitive. The
charges against Tillery are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent
unless and until proven guilty.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Hank Bond Walther and Trial
Attorney Laura N. Perkins of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and
investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice, +1-202-514-2007, TDD, +1-202-514-1888