Innospec Ltd

State officials in Indonesia and Iraq were bribed in order to secure contracts from the governments of Indonesia and Iraq for the supply of products produced by Innospec Ltd (previously called Associated Octel Corporation) including Tetraethyl Lead, also known as TEL, an octane booster to be added to engine fuel. Leaded fuel, i.e. fuel that contains TEL, was banned in the UK in 2000 due to links between the compound and severe neurological damage.

Innospec Ltd, UK subsidiary of Innospec Inc, pleaded guilty to bribing employees of an Indonesian state owned refinery and other government officials in Indonesia. Paul Jennings and David Turner pleaded guilty to bribing state officials in Indonesia and Iraq, while Dennis Kerrison and Miltiades Papachristos were both found guilty of bribing state officials in Indonesia.

Dennis Kerrison was sentenced to four years in prison (later reduced to three), Paul Jennings was sentenced to two years in prison, Miltiades Papachristos was sentenced to 18 months in prison and David Turner was sentenced to a 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years with 300 hours unpaid work.

Outcome of criminal case

Innospec Ltd pleaded guilty in March 2010 to bribing state officials in Indonesia and was fined $12.7 million.

David Turner pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to corrupt in January 2012.

Paul Jennings pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to corrupt in June and July 2012.

Dennis Kerrison and Miltiades Papachristos were both convicted of one count of conspiracy to corrupt in June 2014.

Sentencing

Dennis Kerrison, Paul Jennings and Miltiades Papachristos were sentenced to four years, two years and eighteen months in prison respectively. David Turner was sentenced to a sixteen months’ imprisonment suspended for two years with three hundred hours unpaid work.

Appeal

Dr Papachristos and Mr Kerrison appealed against their convictions on 9 September 2014. Mr Kerrison also appealed against the length of his sentence.

On 19 September 2014, the convictions against Dr Papachristos and Mr Kerrison were upheld by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal reduced Mr Kerrison’s sentence from four to three years.

Further convictions in Indonesia

The Indonesian authorities announced on 30 October 2015, that as part of its investigation into Innospec Ltd, two individuals have been convicted and sentenced for bribery offences. Suroso Atmomartoyo was found guilty at the District Court of Central Jakarta and sentenced to five years in  prison and ordered to pay a fine of 200 million Indonesian Rupiah (£9,600). Atmomartoyo, a former director of state-owned petroleum refinery Pertamina  was found guilty of receiving bribes from PT Soegih Interjaya, which acted for Innospec. The bribes were intended to secure, or serve as rewards for having secured, contracts from the Government of Indonesia for the supply of Innospec products. It was found that Atmomartoyo received $190,000 in bribes as well as hospitality benefits whilst on a visit to London.

Earlier this year, Willy Sebastien Lim, the former owner of PT Soegih Interjaya  who was accused of paying Atmomartoyo the bribes, was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison and fined 50 million Indonesian Rupiah. The SFO worked closely with Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission, as well as authorities in the US, Singapore and Switzerland, as part of its own investigation into Innospec, which resulted in the conviction and sentencing of the company itself as well as four of its former employees.

The SFO also provided assistance to the Indonesia authorities in their investigations, including making available the witness evidence of a co-operating offender. The convictions in Indonesia bring this global case to a close.