Innospec pleads guilty to bribery

Specialty chemicals maker Innospec Inc. pleaded guilty to federal charges of bribery, defrauding the United Nations and violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba, U.S. authorities said. The U.S. Justice Department said Innospec entered a guilty plea before a federal judge in Washington to charges of wire fraud in connection with kickbacks it paid to the former Iraqi government under the U.N. oil-for-food program and bribes to officials in the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Innospec agreed to pay US$40 million. The settlement resolves charges by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Britain’s Serious Fraud Office. (March 19, 2010)