Third appeal in Iraqi ‘oil bribery’ case
SWANLAND MAN ALREADY BEHIND BARS
A THIRD former oil company executive is challenging his conviction for bribery in a case which saw a Swanland man jailed.
Stephen Whiteley, a former territory manager for Unaoil in Iraq, was jailed for three years in July 2020 for allegedly paying over £400,000 in bribes to secure an oil infrastructure contract after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Three months later Basil Al Jarah, of Kemp Road, Swanland, was sentenced to three years and four months in jail having previously pleaded guilty to paying nearly £14m in bribes to Iraqi government officials to win contracts for Unaoil.
Al Jarah, 73, who was employed as Unaoil’s Iraq partner, was said to have received £3.3m for his role in making the deals.
Last year he was ordered to pay a £402,465 confiscation order within three months or face a further three years in prison.
He was the only one of four defendants originally prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to plead guilty. Of the others, two have already had their convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal.
In March a bribery conviction against Paul Bond, who worked for a buoy mooring company and had been jailed for three and a half years, was overturned.
It followed the Court of Appeal’s quashing of a five-year sentence for bribery given to former Unaoil executive Ziad Akle late last year.
The Court of Appeal said there had been “serious” disclosure failures by the SFO during the trials of the two men and highlighted “wholly inappropriate” contacts between the agency and American private investigator David Tinsley acting on behalf of the Ashanis, the family which owns and controls Unaoil.
The court said Tinsley told the SFO he could persuade Al Jarah to plead guilty and concluded it was attempt to encourage the agency to abandon any prosecutions against the Ashani family.
Now solicitors for Whiteley have announced they have filed an appeal on his behalf on the basis that the Court of Appeal’s findings rendered his conviction unsafe.
Sam Healey, a partner of JMW Solicitors, said: “I can confirm that
Stephen Whiteley has submitted an appeal against his conviction.
“The lengthy investigation by the SFO, with which he cooperated fully, and the trial into his alleged wrongdoing at Unaoil cast a dark cloud over his life for several years and his health has suffered considerably as a consequence.
“The quashing of Mr Akle’s conviction, and now that of Mr Bond, due to the refusal of the SFO to disclose material to the defence, we believe also makes Mr Whiteley’s conviction unsafe.”
In a statement, the SFO said:
“We won’t stop fighting serious fraud, bribery and corruption. Our investigation into Unaoil uncovered the payment of $17m in bribes that were paid to win contracts worth $1.7bn in Iraq. We are aware of Mr Whiteley’s appeal and are considering our next steps.”
Meanwhile, a judge-led review of the SFO’S disclosure failures and its handling of the Unaoil investigation is now expected to deliver its finding next month after a delay. It was ordered by Attorney General Suella Braverman after Mr Akle’s successful appeal.