The DOJ alleged that Willbros Group and Willbros International used contractual payments, fraudulent loans, and petty cash obtained by fraudulent invoices to funnel money to two “consultants” for the purposes of bribing foreign officials from Nigeria to pursue contracts associated with the Eastern Gas Gathering Systems (“EGGS”), a project building a natural gas pipeline system in the Niger Delta designed to relieve existing pipeline capacity constraints and contracts to repair offshore oil platforms along the Nigerian coast. In addition, from December 2003 through the first half of 2004, Willbros International pursued contracts to refurbish a pipeline in Ecuador with PetroComercial, a subsidiary of state-owned PetroEcuador. In addition, the DOJ alleged that Willbros International and Willbros Group violated the books and records provision by recording all of the above payments as contract costs. In addition, a subsidiary of Willbros International devised a scheme to buy false invoices through a consultant to fraudulently claim VAT tax credits to reduce tax liability in violation of books and records requirements.
