{"id":5350,"date":"2016-02-21T17:45:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T10:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/?p=5350"},"modified":"2016-02-21T15:00:42","modified_gmt":"2016-02-21T08:00:42","slug":"sweett-group-hit-with-dh11-9m-fine-after-being-convicted-of-uae-bribery-offence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/sweett-group-hit-with-dh11-9m-fine-after-being-convicted-of-uae-bribery-offence\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweett Group hit with Dh11.9m fine after being convicted of UAE bribery offence"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\nThe UK-based building consultancy Sweett Group was hit with a \u00c2\u00a32.25 million (Dh11.9m) fine after being convicted of a bribery offence which took place in the UAE.The company pled guilty to a charge of failing to prevent an act of bribery in December relating to securing a contract with the real estate arm of a local insurance company to build a hotel in Abu Dhabi.The charge came following an investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into its activities in the UAE following the publication of an article by the Wall Street Journal published in July 2013. It alleged that a Sweett Group official had sought a kickback from a US-based architectural practice in return for the award of a contract to design a hospital in Morocco.
\nDavid Green, a director of the Serious Fraud Office, said: “Acts of bribery by UK companies significantly damage this country’s commercial reputation. This conviction and punishment sends a strong message that UK companies must take full responsibility for the actions of their employees and in their commercial activities act in accordance with the law.”The affair has been a costly one for Sweett Group. Alongside the \u00c2\u00a32.25m in fines and confiscation orders imposed by the court, the company had incurred \u00c2\u00a32.6m (Dh13.8m) in costs relating to the SFO investigation and written \u00c2\u00a3500,000 off the value of its Middle East business.
\nEarlier this month, it also announced that it is closing all four of its Middle East offices (in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha and Riyadh), employing a total of 90 staff, meaning further write downs and restructuring costs are likely. Following the court’s sentencing, Douglas McCormick, the chief executive of Sweett Group, said the company’s “Middle East legacy issue is closed”.He said that over the past year a new leadership team \u2014 including a new chief executive, chairman and finance director \u2014 had “addressed key issues” relating to the business including the withdrawal from the Middle East and the sale of its Asia Pacific and Indian businesses.
\n“We have strengthened our internal systems, controls and risk procedures,” he said.The SFO said that its “investigation into individuals continues”.mfahy@thenational.aeFollow The National’s Business section on Twitter
\n
\nSource : thenational.ae
\nRead more…Sweett Group hit with Dh11.9m fine after being convicted of UAE bribery offence<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK-based building consultancy Sweett Group was hit with a \u00c2\u00a32.25 million (Dh11.9m) fine...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75ss1-1oi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3595,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/sweett-group-to-close-middle-east-offices\/","url_meta":{"origin":5350,"position":0},"title":"Sweett Group to close Middle East offices","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r The building consultancy Sweett Group is to close its four offices in the Middle East, which in total employ about 90 staff.The company announced in December that it intended to exit the region, and was said to be reviewing its options, including a potential sale or closure of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39639,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/bsg-resources-beny-steinmetz-released-without-charge-in-guinea-bribery-probe\/","url_meta":{"origin":5350,"position":1},"title":"BSG Resources\u2019 Beny Steinmetz released without charge in Guinea bribery probe","date":"January 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r \r Source : telegraph.co.uk\r Read more...BSG Resources\u2019 Beny Steinmetz released without charge in Guinea bribery probe","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14846,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/wsp-parsons-middle-east-appoints-kane-as-md-to-replace-bower\/","url_meta":{"origin":5350,"position":2},"title":"WSP Parsons Middle East appoints Kane as MD to replace Bower","date":"May 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff has announced that it has appointed Greg Kane as its new Middle East managing director. 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He has recently resigned to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88433,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/saudi-arabia-suspends-world-cup-referee-over-bribery\/","url_meta":{"origin":5350,"position":3},"title":"Saudi Arabia suspends World Cup referee over bribery","date":"May 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Saudi Football Federation have banned 32-year-old referee Fahad al-Mirdasi for life over bribery\r \r Source : arabianbusiness.com\r Read more...Saudi Arabia suspends World Cup referee over bribery","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28401,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/register-your-abu-dhabi-tenancy-contract-or-you-cant-sue-for-rental-fraud\/","url_meta":{"origin":5350,"position":4},"title":"Register your Abu Dhabi tenancy contract or you can't sue for rental fraud","date":"October 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r ABU DHABI \/\/ Prosecutors will no longer accept lawsuits filed by victims of rental fraud if their lease contract is not registered with Abu Dhabi Municipality.The decision will come into force next year and is aimed at decreasing the number of fraud cases involving rented property, said Hassan Al\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22821,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/bribery-risk-to-small-firms-as-exports-rise\/","url_meta":{"origin":5350,"position":5},"title":"Bribery risk to small firms as exports rise","date":"August 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r \r Source : telegraph.co.uk\r Read more...Bribery risk to small firms as exports rise","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}