MISC, a unit of state-owned oil giant Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), was said to have received US$10 million from SBM in transactions related to the Kikeh floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) development off the Sabah coast. — AFP KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — MISC Berhad confirmed today it is investigating allegations it received a RM33 million bribe from Dutch maritime engineering group SBP Offshore.
The local oil and gas shipping firm said its Code of Conduct and Business Ethics prohibits it from performing bribery and corruption, and added that it does not condone any such acts by its employees or service providers.
“We refer to recent news reports on MISC being implicated in SBM’s global bribery scandal and would like to reiterate that MISC is fully committed to operating our business with integrity.
“We view such allegations seriously and have begun an internal investigation on the matter,” it said in a statement.
MISC, a unit of state-owned oil giant Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), was said to have received US$10 million (RM33 million) from SBM in transactions related to the Kikeh floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) development off the Sabah coast.
MISC was named in a legal document allegedly leaked by a disgruntled SBM employee, according to Dutch magazine, Quote , on February 6.
“Payments to Barnado Limited and Delcom Limited totalling approximately US$10,000,000, paid on (ie. by way of bribes) to “MISC” for the Kikeh FPSO (leased to US oil company Murphy),” said an entry on SBM’s Wikipedia page.
The document was pasted anonymously on the Wikipedia page on October 19 last year and has since been removed, but can still be accessed online.
MISC and SBM had formed two joint-venture firms — Malaysia Deepwater Floating Terminal Ltd and Malaysia Deepwater Production Contractors Sdn Bhd — to own and operate the Kikeh FPSO project.
The Kikeh field is in turn operated by Murphy Sabah Oil Company, on behalf of its partner Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd.
Delcom possibly refers to the old name of Deleum Bhd, which worked on Kikeh’s fluid transfer line system together with SBM in April 2007.
Established in November 1968, MISC’s major owners are Petronas and the Employees Provident Fund Board.
Petronas bought a 29 per cent stake in MISC in 1997 and then raised it to over 60 per cent the following year.
The increase helped MISC purchase ailing Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd, a shipping company controlled by a son of then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
