BCP, BPI and Banif used to pay for corruption in Angola
The payments in question were made by the Dutch company SBM Offshore between 2005 and 2008, which has corrupted several of Sonangol's staff for a total of over 6 million dollars.
BCP, BPI and Banif were used for corruption schemes in Angola. Dutch company SBM Offshore paid bribes to executives from Angolan oil company Sonangol, totalling over 6 million dollars, with the goal of being favoured in tenders, according to the Jornal de Negócios. The company’s CEO was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence in October of last year.
The transfers in question were made between 2005 and 2008, totalling 6,836,400 dollars (5,681,960 euros), by SBM Offshore, whose capital is entirely owned by SBM Holding, with tax residence in Switzerland. The company’s objective was to be favoured in the tenders for the Kizomba C and Greater Plutonio oil exploration projects and, to this end, transferred bribes to accounts in Portuguese banks.
The then vice-president of Sonangol Shipping Holdings, and Baptista Sumbe, who was chairman of the Remuneration and Welfare Board of BCP, were some of the names who received payments from SBM. The case began to be investigated after a complaint in 2016 and, in October last year, the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona sentenced Didier Keller, CEO of SBM Holding at the time of the facts, to two years in prison with a suspended sentence, having admitted to being guilty of active corruption of foreign public officials.
