On January 14, 2021, the UK Serious Fraud Office announced that David Lufkin, the former Global Head of Sales at Petrofac Limited, had pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery in connection with approximately $30 million in corrupt payments made or intended to be made in order to secure engineering and construction contracts in Abu Dhabi, in violation of sections 1(1) and 1(2) of the Bribery Act 2010. Lufkin, a citizen of the UK, admitted to engaging in the corrupt conduct between 2012 and 2018. The contracts were worth approximately $3.3 billion.
In February 2019, Lufkin pleaded guilty to eleven counts of bribery in connection with contracts in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. He is scheduled to be sentenced in February 2021 on all fourteen counts.
In its announcement of Lufkin’s guilty plea, the SFO noted that the bribery, corruption and money laundering investigation of Petrofac, its officers and employees is ongoing.