Ex-Willbros Consultant Sentenced for Nigerian Bribery

In April 2012, a federal court granted a DOJ motion to dismiss the charges after Willbros satisfied its obligations under a 2008 deferred-prosecution agreement. Randy Harl, Willbros Group president and CEO, said in an April 2, 2012, release that the company was “pleased to have successfully completed the requirements of the [agreement]. … We have instituted values and processes that we believe will prevent any future FCPA-related incidents.”

Several years ago, two other former Willbros executives, Jim Bob Brown and Jason Steph, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA. Brown and Steph were sentenced to prison terms in 2010.

A third alleged co-conspirator, Kenneth Tillery, was charged with bribery in a 2008 federal indictment. DOJ said Tillery worked for Willbros International from the 1980s through January 2005. Among other positions Tillery held at the company, he had been president of Willbros International. The Justice Dept. said Tillery "remains a fugitive."

Willbros Group said on its website that it has worked in Africa for 45 years but “discontinued its presence in West Africa in 2006 as a result of increased risks to personnel.”

A company spokesman did not return an ENR call seeking comment.

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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