Ranhill, Petronas and Keppel implicated in Unaoil's "bribery scandal"? (4)

And Petronas has also reacted according to an article in The Edge:


“Petronas takes the allegations very seriously,” the statement read. “The company has a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of bribery and corruption and expressly prohibits improper solicitation, bribery and other corrupt activity by employees, directors and third parties performing work or services for or on behalf of companies in the Petronas group.”


It is by far the best statement of the three companies mentioned in the Unaoil scandal: Ranhill, Petronas and Keppel.

The journalists who have uncovered the scandal claim to have a treasure trove of hundreds of thousands of documents, emails etc. Even if a company has a zero-tolerance against bribery it can never be sure that each and everyone of its thousands of employees follows the code. So the only wise thing is to be open to allegations, to take them seriously and to investigate.


Keppel wrote: "Keppel has a code of conduct which prohibits, among others, bribery and corruption.".

But in the documents uncovered by the journalists it is written: "Unaoil regarded Keppel as an ideal client because Keppel had lax anti-corruption controls compared with Unaoil’s other multinational clients."

Keppel therefore should at the very least re-evaluate its anti-corruption controls, how they stack up against other multinational companies.


Regarding Ranhill, the full court case between Unaoil and Amona Ranhill consortium Sdn Bhd can be found here.

The names of "Ranhill" and "Unaoil" are mentioned each dozens of time, with many big shots of Ranhill being named, having directly negotiated with the top of Unaoil.

Ranhill Holdings (the currently listed entity) wrote:

".... neither Ranhill Holdings Berhad nor any of its group of companies has entered into any transaction or arrangement with Unaoil."

The company should at the very least specify the exact relationship between Unaoil and the former Ranhill Bhd and its subsidiaries, and what the implications are for the current Ranhill Holdings Bhd.

The announcement by Ranhill Holdings (written in typical "Menglish", that is Malaysian English, bit surprising for an official announcement) also mentioned:

"..... we practise code of conduct and good business ethics".

Not everybody might agree with that:

Ranhill, Petronas and Keppel implicated in Unaoil's "bribery scandal"? (3)

Ranhill Holdings has reacted through an announcement on Bursa's website.


It has come to our attention that there had been a series of articles published by The Huffington Post and Fairfax Media recently with regards to the investigation centres on a Monaco company called Unaoil for the alleged unethical business practices. The articles mentioned that Unaoil’s multinational clients in Libya included a Malaysian company Ranhill.

With regards to the above, we wish to clarify and confirm that neither Ranhill Holdings Berhad nor any of its group of companies has entered into any transaction or arrangement with Unaoil. 

We wish to further clarify that at Ranhill, we have due process prescribed in the forms of policies and procedures in regards to engagement of third parties that include due diligence process and we practise code of conduct and good business ethics.


That seems like a rather clear answer.

However, it looks like there was definitely a "Ranhill" which was dealing with Unaoil, as described for instance in this link:

"Know your counterparty: how not to lose millions on your business deal"

Some snippets:


In early 2005, a company called Amona Africa placed a bid for a major construction contract with the Libyan government. The initial contract value was almost a billion US dollars, with opportunities for this to increase.

At the same time, the Malaysian based Ranhill group wanted to acquire Amona Africa. The Ranhill holding company entered into an agreement to buy a majority shareholding, conditional on the construction contract being awarded to Amona Africa.

To improve the chances of securing the construction contract for Amona Africa and control of Amona Africa for Ranhill, executives of Ranhill began discussions with a company called Unaoil. Unaoil had business contacts in Libya who could provide access to members of the Gadaffi regime. This would lead to opportunities to lobby at the very highest level for the award of the construction contract.

Ranhill did not yet own or control Amona Africa. Nor were any Ranhill directors on the Amona Africa board. Negotiations with Unaoil were conducted by the group CEO of Ranhill and two other senior executive directors. One of these, a Mr Lough, was represented to Unaoil by the CEO as 'Ranhill's 'Mr Libya'. At this stage, Unaoil did not need to analyse which Ranhill group company the negotiators were representing. They were simply trying to do a deal between senior executives of the Ranhill group on one hand and Unaoil on the other.


Is this "Ranhill group" in no way, shape or form related to the currently listed "Ranhill Holdings"?

Ranhill, Petronas and Keppel implicated in Unaoil's "bribery scandal"? (2)

Business Times (Singapore): "Keppel refutes allegations of link to Unaoil bribery scandal"

Some snippets:


KEPPEL Corp has dismissed allegations in foreign media reports that the group was involved in a global oil bribery scandal embroiling Monaco-based oil company Unaoil. A company spokesman said in a statement on Monday: "Keppel FELS strongly refutes allegations made in the media regarding its involvement in the payment of bribes relating to Unaoil. Keppel has a code of conduct which prohibits, among others, bribery and corruption."


In Malaysia the story seems to have been completely ignored by the mainstream media, which is a rather peculiar (but not completely unexpected) way to deal with bad news.

Therefore also no reactions from Petronas and Ranhill, which were mentioned in the allegations.

Ranhill, Petronas and Keppel implicated in Unaoil's "bribery scandal"?

"Asian companies such as Hyundai, Samsung, Sinopec and Petronas are household names. But they have dark secrets. In the latest in Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post’s global bribery expose, these firms and more are implicated for paying kickbacks, money laundering and corruption."


The start of part 3 "Unaoil: Dark secrets of Asian powers" of "World's Biggest Bribery Scandal"



The Asian powers mentioned are three companies of Korea (Samsung, Hyundai and ISU) and the following players:

Some snippets containing specifics:


Leaked emails reveal that Unaoil agreed to pay millions of dollars to a Malaysian middle man who claimed he could influence a top Petronas’ executive and other Malaysian officials in 2010. “I’ll make [an] arrangement for us to see Mr [Petronas executive] when I’m in Dubai,” middle man Affandi Yusuf wrote to Unaoil.

“As you are aware the situation is very sensitive at the moment. I’ll have to meet Mr [Petronas executive] personally to make him comfortable to meet up with your team.”

In a later email from Affandi, the middleman claims that, in return for the bribes, his corrupt Petronas contacts had “fed us” inside information from a tender committee. This ensured that Unaoil’s client Petrofac qualified for a large contract.



In Libya, Malaysian company Ranhill offered Unaoil $40 million to convince senior Libyan officials to award it a large housing construction contract. The leaked emails reveal Ranhill approached Unaoil after former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had failed to convince Colonel Gaddafi to help.

Unaoil succeeded where Mahathir had failed. Unaoil paid a high ranking Libyan official, Mustafa Zarti, to assist Ranhill. The leaked files also suggest Unaoil promised a $200,000 personal kickback to a Ranhill executive if he helped Unaoil extract large commissions from the Malaysian company.

Unaoil also paid up to $2 million (along with further payments for a rug and a collection of fine wines) into offshore accounts to two mysterious Algerian middle men, Tewfic Guerbato and Omar Habour. It appears these payments were made to increase Unaoil’s influence inside Petronas and other Asian firms.



A confidential 2007 Unaoil memo details its plans to help Keppel win offshore oil rig and barge contracts on the massive Kashagan oil field. Unaoil regarded Keppel as an ideal client because Keppel had lax anti-corruption controls compared with Unaoil’s other multinational clients. Unaoil also believed Keppel had its own connections to allegedly corrupt Kazakh government officials.

“In my opinion we have a lot at stake here, apart from the $30m [in fees from Keppel] – we could set-up a long term association with these guys [Keppel].... The problems of working with a US or European outfit do not apply here,” a Unaoil executive wrote in a 2007 memo.

The leaked emails provide specific details of just how helpful Unaoil was to Keppel. In 2006, when Keppel was competing with French multinational Technip to win a contract to build an offshore oil rig in Kazakhstan, Unaoil used a corrupt contact codenamed “small D” to leak inside information on bidding strategy.