UPDATE 3 Honeywell to Pay About $200 Million to Resolve U.S., Brazilian Bribery Charges
(Additional statement by the Brazilian government
By Chris Prentice & Tyler Clifford
Dec 19 (Reuters) –
Honeywell International Inc, a U.S.-based manufacturer, announced Monday that it had agreed to pay approximately $200 million to settle civil and criminal corruption investigations in Brazil and the United States.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that parallel investigations were resolved by the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These investigations related to bribes Honeywell paid to a top-ranking official at Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras between 2010 and 2014.
SEC charges also pertain to payments Honeywell’s Belgian-based subsidiary made in 2011 to an Algerian government official. Unaoil, an oil consultancy based in Monaco, was charged with the bribery. The company has been previously accused by global authorities of a scheme that involved 17-years of paying bribes for officials in nine different countries.
Darius Adamczyk (Honeywell Chairman and Chief Executive officer) stated that the company was happy to resolve the matter, noting that it had received full credit for cooperation.
Honeywell estimates that $160 million will be paid to the United States for civil and criminal penalties.
Honeywell’s Monday statement was confirmed by Brazil’s government on Monday. They said Honeywell would pay 638 million Brazilian reais ($120m) to settle the matter, with about 70% going to Petrobras.
The U.S. government prosecutors offered to delay potential prosecution of the company for three years in return for a criminal fine of approximately $79 million and the promise of continued cooperation in all other investigations.
Honeywell was fined $81 million for a civil penalty. The SEC claimed that almost all of this amount will be offset by Brazilian payments. ($1 = 5.3094 reais); Reporting by Chris Prentice & Tyler Clifford. Additional reporting by Peter Frontini, Sao Paulo. Editing and David Gregorio by Paul Simao.