Singapore’s Seatrium to Pay $110 Million Over Brazil Bribes

The Merlion statue in Singapore, on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. Singapore’s recovery held up in 2022, with a relatively strong year-end performance shoring up the economy ahead of an expected global slowdown this year.

(Bloomberg) — Seatrium Ltd. is expected to pay $110 million in a deferred prosecution deal with Singapore authorities to close a chapter in the long-running Operation Car Wash bribery probe in Brazil.

Under the proposed pact, Seatrium will pay $57 million to Singapore. The remaining $53 million, which it will pay to Brazilian authorities, will be credited against the penalty, the company said in a statement Thursday. Seatrium has made a S$76.5 million ($56.8 million) provision in 2023.

Seatrium last month agreed to settle the probe with Brazilian authorities for S$182.4 million. The company was formed in 2023 after Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd merged. Keppel Offshore was embroiled in allegations of illegal payments in Brazil and in 2017 agreed to pay $422 million to end a U.S. bribery probe.

Shares fell as much as 1.3% before erasing losses after Seatrium resumed trading in Singapore. The stock has slumped 34% this year, compared with the benchmark Straits Times Index which is down 0.2% in the same period.

Two former Sembcorp Marine executives including CEO Wong Weng Sun were also charged on Thursday for allegedly bribing Brazilian officials millions of dollars to advance the company’s interests in the South American country.

–With assistance from Ishika Mookerjee.

(Updates with shares in fourth paragraph)

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