A Rolls-Royce mascot known as 'Spirit of Ecstasy' stands above the brand's logo on the front of a Rolls-Royce Ghost in a showroom in Singapore October 8, 2013.
In a $170 million settlement paid to the US government for bribery cases in six countries, Rolls-Royce has admitted that it paid $7.8 million in bribes to SOCAR, the Azerbaijan state-owned oil and gas company.
Rolls-Royce admits that RRESI through an intermediary made over $7.8 million in corrupt payments between 2000 and 2009 “to bribe foreign officials at SOCAR”. The suit calculated that RRESI earned profits of over $50 million on turbine deals in Azerbaijan.
The United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office identified Unaoil as an intermediary company in fraudulent oil deals with many companies including Rolls-Royce. According to reporting by The Guardian newspaper, Rolls-Royce was using Unaoil’s help to secure contracts in Azerbaijan as early as 2001.
The American suit also listed bribes in Angola, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Thailand. Rolls-Royce has also reached settlements with the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office and Brazil’s Ministerio Publico Federal for an additional $604.8 million for bribes paid in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia and Thailand.
SOCAR has not yet responded to questions.