As you've likely read in the news, five oil companies recently received information requests from the SEC, which is trying to determine whether the companies made improper payments to officials overseas.
The payments were discovered during a U.S. Senate investigation into transactions at Riggs Bank. The probe uncovered large payments made by the five oil companies—Amerada Hess, ChevronTexaco, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Oil and Devon Energy—to officials in Equatorial Guinea.
The Senate report stated that "Oil companies in Equatorial Guinea may have contributed to corrupt practices in that country," through payments to local officials, their families, or entities under their control.
The SEC’s Fort Worth, Texas, office is probing whether or not the companies violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or contributed to corrupt practices in the West African nation.
Each of the companies has denied any improper payments.
Most of the oil companies were wary of providing Compliance Week with copy of the actual letter, but CW editors were able to track down a copy.
Compliance Week is making the letter available as an educational resource for executives at public companies who may not have seen an information request letter from a regulator.
It can be downloaded from the box above, right.
We're also making available another SEC letter sent to more than 20 telecommunications companies, which asked for information about how the telcos calculated their subscriber numbers.
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