A Fairfax Media and Huffington Post investigation has uncovered an extraordinary story of bribery and corruption in the oil industry, centred on Monaco-based company Unaoil. These are some of the men who grew rich from their association with Unaoil.

THE PLAYERS

Peter Warner VP of Petrofac Ugo Bertolotto Diego Braghi Eni manager Adalberto Bestetti Siirtec Nigi Erik Vanagels Latvian front man Stuart K Steele Senior manager, Tecnicas Reunidas

That officials in graft riddled, oil producing nations are corrupt is, unfortunately, expected. But what about senior Western executives working for famous, publicly listed companies?

The biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the oil industry has exposed the fact that suited senior executives in city offices have been breaking the law — and getting away with it.

THE BRITISH EXECUTIVE - PETER WARNER

Warner, a handsome, blue-eyed international oil executive, was running his own funny money operation while serving as vice-president of Petrofac.

As a place to hide a money laundering hub, the non-descript address in the Weatherby Mansions apartment block in leafy, upmarket Earls Court, London, seems perfect.

Perhaps that is why Erik Vanagels, a Latvian front man for an Eastern European financial crime network, set up his operation there. In 2014, Vanagels, was repeatedly exposed in court cases and in the media over his links to bribery, money laundering and even arms smuggling.

But what has never been revealed is how Vanagels was also used by a seemingly respectable British businessman called Peter Warner, who was working for listed UK oil services company Petrofac.


In October 2006, Warner, a handsome, blue-eyed international oil executive, was running his own funny money operation while serving as vice-president of Petrofac.

This first phase of this operation involved Warner hooking up with corrupt Monaco business Unaoil, which specialises in paying bribes to win government contracts for many of its clients.

The massive leak of confidential files from inside Unaoil’s operation shows that, to help Petrofac win contracts, Unaoil paid bribes to officials in countries including Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Iraq. It also shows Warner appears to have had an active role in managing these payments.

In early October 2006, Warner directed Unaoil to send at least $2 million to one of Vanagel’s front companies, via a company in the Marshall Islands, a tax haven in the Pacific Ocean.

This was phase two of Warner’s dealings, and seemed aimed at obscuring the true sender of the funds (Petrofac) and whoever finally pocketed them. Warner told Unaoil that Vanagels’ front company “has been used before some time ago so is tested”.

Warner also wrote that the “account details are complex”. He wasn’t lying.

“Total amount is likely to be $2MM and not $2.4MM but I have yet to get that sorted out. As usual this is last minute even though we know it has been coming.”

Warner also wrote that the “account details are complex”. He wasn’t lying. The invoice he directed Unaoil to send from the Marshall Islands listed beneficiary bank accounts in Lithuania, Austria and Germany.

More than once, Warner directed Unaoil to make “confidential payments” to third parties in emails that appear to use code words. Almost certainly they were made to influence those with the power to award contracts to Petrofac.

Unaoil has been good to Warner. Its business helped him build Petrofac into a FTSE 100 company. When Warner retired from Petrofac in 2014, Unaoil appointed Warner to its board.

Specific questions sent to Warner via Unaoil were not answered, although Unaoil has denied that Warner or any Unaoil director has ever engaged in corruption. Petrofac appears to have been unaware of Unaoil’s involvement in several of its projects featuring Warner, and says it does not condone corruption.

THE SHONKY ITALIANS - ENI

..the bad guys got away with years of bribery and corruption.

Eni is one of the biggest oil companies in the world, operating in more than 83 countries with a staff of 84,000.

The leaked files suggest some of those 84,000 are far from honest, with executives rigging contracts for the benefit of Unaoil clients on oilfields Eni manages on behalf of national governments.

The Italian police twigged to this in 2011, when they raided the homes of several Eni managers and Italian middlemen. But the investigation petered out and not a single person was charged. A few Eni managers were sacked and everything went quiet.

The leaked Unaoil files make it clear that the bad guys got away with years of bribery and corruption.

Unaoil used an incredible network of middlemen to corrupt Eni projects across the globe. Many of them operate out of London and include businessmen Stefano Borghi, Enrico Pondini, Tiziano Pirola, Ugo Bertolotto, Leonida Bortolazzo and Adalberto Bestetti.

The leaked files show each of these men receiving millions of dollars in kickbacks to get corrupt Eni managers to rig tender committees and leak tender documents labelled “highly confidential”.

The leaked files show Eni tenders were likely corrupted in countries including Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Congo, Algeria, Suriname and Syria.

These documents gave many of Unaoil’s clients a major edge over as they bid for work on the national oilfields that Eni managed, undermining efforts to award contracts to the firm that delivered the best value.

The leaked files show Eni tenders were likely corrupted in countries including Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Congo, Algeria, Suriname and Syria.

Consider this letter sent to Unaoil and Petrofac’s Peter Warner in 2006 by middleman Adalberto Bestetti. In it, Bestetti, a well connected executive from another Italian company, boasts that he has delivered Petrofac a contract in Kazakhstan. “Our people” inside Eni “changed the way to evaluate the numbers and this allowed your company to start negotiation in front,” he writes.

“Kindly do not forget that [Eni firm] Agip ‘liking and approval’ of your company was always there supporting you in any kind of situation.”

Unaoil appears to have paid Bestetti $1.7 million, to an account in Delaware, for this corrupt help.

He sends the email in hope of convincing Unaoil to use him on a second project. He writes that he can help convince Eni to give a contract to Petrofac even though “Petrofac is not qualified,” and that he could exert “big influence” inside Eni’s Kazakh operation.

The corrupting of certain Eni managers has gone on for years. Eni manager Diego Braghi (who was receiving bribes via middleman Stefano Borghi) rigged tender committees for Unaoil’s multinational clients in Kazakhstan and Iraq for seven years, according to the leaked Unaoil files. An email from 2011 describes Braghi - who told Fairfax Media and Huffington Post he was not involved in any corruption - as being part of the “old team” who was demanding bigger kickbacks in return for his help.

Eni subsidiary Saipem, a major oil industry player in its own right, and a host of other Italian oil service companies are also implicated in the Unaoil scandal. They paid Unaoil huge fees to help them win contracts in places such as Iraq, with the deals often involving a corrupt Eni manager like Braghi feeding a contract to an Italian company.

THE SPANIARDS AND THE FRENCH

The leaked files reveal Stuart K Steele, a senior manager at Spanish multinational Tecnicas Reunidas, was on Unaoil’s payroll. The files show he used his influence at Tecnicas to corruptly help some of Unaoil’s other clients, including by ensuring Tecnicas ran dead in a tender. He also kept the Spanish firm paying Unaoil large fees to help it win its own contracts.

Leaked files reveal Unaoil wired $300,000 as part of a “loan” agreement to a Monaco bank account in Steele’s name. Steele could not be reached for comment.

Unaoil’s influence also extends to Paris, where it appears to have paid kickbacks to a senior figure in French giant Technip - payments that bought Technip’s help for one of Unaoil’s clients in Yemen.


But Unaoil’s main French contact was a renowned oil industry figure with access to tender committees inside French giant Total. Like Eni, Total was hired by national governments to manage their oilfields, and the man’s contacts allowed him to leak sensitive information and influence tenders in Unaoil’s favour in countries such as Iran.

The leaked emails show that this man, who we are not naming for legal reasons, was in the mid-2000s promised large payments by Unaoil for any Total contract he could steer to a Unaoil client.

WHAT NEXT FOR THE DIRTY EXECUTIVES?

Several executives that dealt with Unaoil appear to have broken corporate or corruption laws in any number of countries.

The files reveal a Halliburton manager using a fake email to pass on coded messages, a German executive from MAN Turbo in 2010 using Skype to discuss shonky deals and leak sensitive files, and a manager from Italy’s Rosetti Marino doing the same.

In other leaked emails, a Unaoil executive warns that two senior managers from Norway’s Aker Kvaerner probably have their phones tapped and that conversations about Unaoil’s work should be conducted on Skype. Another Unaoil file states that a Rolls Royce manager has agreed to be paid a kickback in return for leaking information. Unaoil also bribed an executive from Turkish joint venture GATE in return for convincing his firms to pay Unaoil huge fees.

In yet another secret Unaoil exchange, a Unaoil executive states that US defence giant Honeywell is prepared to fraudulently inflate a sub-contract in Iraq to disguise a “marketing” fee.

Honeywell’s spokesperson said the firm has no knowledge of this activity, while the other companies implicated in the Unaoil scandal have emphasised that they have strong anti-corruption policies and will investigate any wrongdoing by individual staff.

The pressure should now come onto authorities in Britain, Italy, Norway, France, the US and elsewhere to investigate the Unaoil files and bring to account those who have operated for so many years with impunity.