وزارة العدل الامريكية تحقق في قضية رشوة ابن اخ رئيس اليمن توفيق صالح عبدالله صالح

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By DIONNE SEARCEY And MARGARET COKER
The Justice Department has begun looking into allegations of possible bribery in Yemen several years ago by Schlumberger Ltd., the large oil-services company

The allegations concern contract payments Schlumberger made to a consulting firm with ties to Yemen's government at a time when Schlumberger sought approval to create an oil-exploration databank in Yemen, as described by two people familiar with the matter and by company documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The investigation is at an early stage. Investigators have been in touch with former Schlumberger employees who say they have knowledge of internal allegations made at the company, and of internal Schlumberger probes of those allegations, said people familiar with the matter.

Schlumberger compliance director Dianne Ralston said the company "has an embedded, robust culture of accountability and compliance, training our employees to report concerns, thoroughly investigating issues raised and taking appropriate action. This is a long-term commitment Schlumberger has made everywhere we operate around the world." Justice Department investigators declined to comment.

The department lately has ramped up its enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, which bars U.S. companies from paying or offering to pay foreign government officials or employees of state companies to gain a business advantage. Schlumberger has principal offices in Houston, in addition to Paris and The Hague.

Oil-service companies, which often work in nations ranked as among the most corrupt, have been a familiar target of FCPA investigations. Last year, Halliburton Co. and its former KBR unit agreed to $579 million in penalties to settle bribery allegations related to Nigeria; KBR pleaded guilty to charges in the case, and the government agreed not to prosecute Halliburton.

Baker Hughes Inc. and a unit agreed in 2007 to pay $44 million to settle allegations of improper payments in Kazakhstan, with the unit pleading guilty and the parent neither admitting nor denying the charges. Weatherford International Ltd. has said in federal filings that it might have a bribery problem with a European subsidiary and that it began "negotiations with the government agencies to resolve these matters." A Justice official wouldn't comment.

Nearly a decade ago, Schlumberger planned a Data Bank Development Project of seismic information on oil exploration in Yemen, a joint project with the government.

According to Schlumberger documents reviewed by the Journal, in 2002, Yemen's Petroleum Exploration and Production Authority, before signing off on the project, urged the company to hire a firm called Zonic Invest Ltd. as a go-between.

Zonic's general director was Tawfik Saleh Abdullah Saleh, a nephew of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Schlumberger agreed to hire Zonic and pay it a $500,000 signing bonus, and the project went forward, the documents show.

Zonic also wanted a roughly 20% cut of Schlumberger's profits from the project, one document said. It added that Schlumberger didn't accept this, but its Yemen country manager at the time "suggested that those amounts be compensated through services." It was decided Zonic would help with personnel, computer hardware, networking and furniture for a computing center. The former country manager couldn't be reached for comment.

The companies' dealings spanned several years. Schlumberger paid Zonic the signing bonus in late 2003, though the firms had yet to sign a contract.

In May 2004, a Schlumberger manager "resisted signing a contract with Zonic, but he started receiving threatening calls," according to a Schlumberger internal document dated December 2008. It said the threats stopped after the contract was signed.

Zonic's Mr. Abdullah Saleh denied that any threats were made. In an interview, he said Zonic was created as a lobbying and business-consulting firm specifically for the data project. "Schlumberger came to us for help. They had been trying for so many years to get the contract," he said. "If it wasn't for Zonic, there would have been no data-bank project."

Three people familiar with the matter said some services Zonic provided from 2001 to 2007 were done at above-market rates or were unnecessary. One document shows Zonic billed Schlumberger about $216,000 for certain computer hardware, although Schlumberger itself was among the leading providers of such hardware.

Zonic's Mr. Abdullah Saleh said his firm provided some services, but its most important job was lobbying.

Relations between the companies frayed around 2006 after disputes about invoices.

Schlumberger paid Zonic a total of $1.38 million from 2003 to 2007. But the next year, Zonic made a demand for more money, which Mr. Abdullah Saleh said reflected further business envisioned in the contract. Schlumberger didn't pay any more, documents show.

Zonic's Mr. Abdullah Saleh said there was nothing improper associated with the contract. Yemeni government officials didn't return phone and email requests for comment.

Schlumberger compliance officers became aware of the matter in 2008 and carried out investigations. Internal reviews of the project said that while Zonic did provide *****istrative support and building security, some other services agreed to in the contract, such as obtaining computing-center software, weren't provided.

A December 2008 Schlumberger internal document said, "Because of the age of the issues, it is not possible to confirm all the facts of the relationship with Zonic." Schlumberger's legal team eventually determined no one had violated its anticorruption policy, said one person familiar with the matter, adding that the internal investigation ended without any significant disciplinary action.

The board and top executives were briefed on the Zonic matter, according to the person who said the probe ended without significant disciplinary action.

Mr. Abdullah Saleh said Zonic is no longer active. He said he filed a breach-of-contract suit against Schlumberger in a Yemen court two years ago, which is pending. "They tried to edge me out," he said