A fourth has received a suspended sentence and community work.
The contracts related to a series of high-value oil and gas engineering projects between 2001 and 2009 in Iran, Egypt, Russia, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
The confidential information corruptly supplied to bidders was held by companies that undertook procurement for the projects. The defendants, who were engaged as agency workers by the procurement companies, had access to this information. They indicated to suppliers who were bidding for the contracts that information could be made available if they agreed to pay for it. Disguised as "consultancy services", the illicit payments were shared out amongst the co-conspirators.
The sentences are:
- Andrew Rybak (d.o.b. 28/03/56) of Newbury, Berkshire. Five years' imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently.
- Ronald Saunders (d.o.b. 01/02/47) of Hook, Hampshire. Three years and six months' imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently.
- Philip Hammond (d.o.b. 11/06/54) of Brussels, Belgium. Three years' imprisonment on each count to be served concurrently.
- Barry Smith (d.o.b. 19/04/40) of Hindhead, Hampshire. Twelve months' imprisonment, suspended for a period of 18 months and 300 hours of unpaid work.
In addition Rybak and Hammond were also disqualified from acting as company directors for a period of 10 years.
Confiscation actions are to be undertaken against the first three defendants.
The case, codenamed Operation Navigator, was tried at Southwark Crown Court, where the defendants had been found guilty on 25 January.
In passing sentence yesterday, HHJ Deborah Taylor, addressing Rybak, Saunders, Hammond and Smith said: "All this was done without the slightest regard for the interests of others. Your activities in connection with these conspiracies had little, if anything, to do with the interests of those engaged with the project, but were parasitic, leeching money for your benefit."
Commenting on the sentences, SFO Director Richard Alderman said, "Demanding backhanders in exchange for confidential and advantageous information saps business and is completely unacceptable to society. Hopefully these sentences will ring out the message loud and clear that the criminal justice system will do all it can to combat wrong-doing like this."
The investigation began in April 2008 as a joint operation between the Serious Fraud Office and the City of London Police. It was triggered by allegations relating to a project in Singapore, but it soon became apparent to the investigators that a number of other projects were also tainted by corruption.
The contracts related to five projects (indicating defendants involved):
- Styrene Monomer Project, Iran. (Rybak, Saunders and Hammond)
- QASR Gas Gathering Project, Egypt. (Rybak and Saunders)
- Sakhalin Island Project, Russian Federation. (Rybak, Saunders and Hammond)
- Singapore Parallel Train Project. (Rybak and Hammond)
- Hydrogen Power Project, Abu Dhabi. (Rybak, Saunders and Smith)
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
