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Brazilian state oil company Petrobras has excluded Golar LNG partially owned company, Golar Power, from the competition for a large contract. The reason is that the head of the company is suspected of corruption and money laundering, writes the oil daily Upstream.
According to the newspaper, Petrobras refers to management, risk and compliance.
Golar Power was before suspicions about to appear under the name Hygo Energy Transitions.
It is a contract to operate a terminal to convert liquefied natural gas (LNG) received from tankers back into gas in the state of Bahia in Brazil, from which the Golar company is excluded. After regasification, the gas will enter the onshore gas pipeline network in Brazil. These contracts last for many years and cover large volumes. According to Upstream, the plant will be able to handle up to 20 million cubic meters of gas per day.
So far DN has failed to get a comment from Golar LNG on Saturday.
Entrepreneur Tor Olav Trøim is chairman of the board and the fourth largest owner of Golar LNG, which owns half of Golar Power.
– Unfounded accusations
Golar Power CEO Eduardo Antonello has been suspected of corruption and money laundering since his time as executive vice president of drilling company Seadrill.
Eduardo Antonello is suspected of money laundering and corruption in Brazil since his time at the Seadrill drilling company. This means that the company he now runs is out of the battle for a contract in Brazil. (Photo: Governo de Sergipe)
The accusations date back to the extensive corruption scandal that broke out in Brazil in 2014, in what was called a “car wash operation.” Antonello is accused of having received around four million dollars in bribes that, according to the prosecutor, amounted to a total of 40 million dollars. Prosecutors have now frozen Antonello’s bank accounts, in addition to the bank accounts of other investigated individuals.
– Sorry, but I can’t really comment on this right now. An investigation is ongoing. I hope that everything is properly clarified during the investigation, Eduardo Antonello told DN.
No charges have been filed in the case, and so far the Brazilian prosecutor has only had the right to carry out seizures and investigative proceedings.
According to Upstream, his defenders claim that he wants to prove his innocence and the accusations against him are based on information from people who in so-called plea agreements, that is, legal agreements, have pleaded guilty. The defendants believe that the allegations are completely unfounded.
Antonello is today one of the partners at the top of Magni Partners, owned by Tor Olav Trøim. In recent years, Antonello has been hired by Magni Partners for management positions, first at Tor Olav Trøim’s Golar gas company and then at Golar Power.
Trøim has not responded to DN’s questions about his values and the situations around the companies in which he is so central.
List
Golar Power is about to appear separately under the name Hygo Energy Transition. Golar LNG recently announced that Antonello requested and received permission from Hygo to focus on the criminal case against him. The company highlights that the suspicion is related to conditions prior to their passage through Golar and Hygo.
Hygo is owned 50/50 by Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners and Golar LNG. The company was to raise NOK 4.4 billion and be listed on the US stock exchange.
The Golar LNG stock was halved on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange after the corruption suspicions against Antonello became known, and it is unclear whether Hygo’s listing will go ahead as planned.
If the listing is not completed, Trøim and Antonello and other key people in the company will also miss out on a bonus of up to $ 98.7 million, or 936 million crowns, which was linked to a successful listing.
While Golar LNG stock has fallen on the Nasdaq stock market, competitor BW Group has chosen shares in the company, writes the trade newspaper TradeWinds. The company, which is controlled by the Sohmen-Pao family, now owns almost six percent of the company.
This summer, Hygo also signed a contract with Hydro for another regasification terminal, also in Brazil, but in Barcarena state, where Hydro operates its Alunoterte alumina refinery.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content can only be done with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.
