Corruption and big oil company. Sounds a bit unexpected, right? Not so much. The jury's out on Unaoil, a Monaco based oil company run by the elite Ashani family. In light of recent corruption accusations, police officials in Monaco have raided the offices and homes of officials from Unaoil. The oil company is under serious international scrutiny. The UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the US Department of Justice, and Australian anti-corruption police have launched an investigation into Unaoil's corrupt dealings, which were revealed by a joint report on behalf of Australia's Fairfax Media and the Huffington Post.
According to this joint report, created in part from leaked documents and emails, Unaoil has bribed officials and rigged contracts on a global scale; they have systematically corrupted the global oil industry by ensuring that billions of dollars worth of government contracts are divvied out on the basis of bribes paid by massive corporations. The leaked documents and emails reveal slews of information about Unaoil's Middle East operations. Between 2002 and 2012, Unaoil colluded with loyalty, a secret network of fixers, and middlemen for the benefit of Western companies, further worsening corruption amongst poor countries and elites who exploit weak state institutions. Some officials from these Western companies thought they were paying legitimate lobbyists, while others simply turned a blind eye.
Unaoil is ran by Ata Ashani and his two sons, Cyrus and Saman. The Ashani family oversees numerous charities that support the arts and children, and are board members on NGO's alongside ex-politicians and billionaires. Ten years ago, the family was worth some 190 million euros, putting them alongside the global elite. In terms of strategy, the Ashanis play upon the fears of Western companies who worry they are incapable of landing lucrative contracts in oil-rich countries without Unaoil's well-established influence. Unaoil gets money from its clients (private companies) and then funnels this money into an "industrial scale bribery operation." Simply put, Unaoil takes the money it receives from Western corporations and then uses it to bribe officials in oil-producing nations, guaranteeing that its clients win valuable government-funded contracts.
To date, the corruption of a long list of officials, ministers, and political insiders has been exposed. This includes two Iraqi oil ministers, a "fixer" linked to Assad, senior officials from Libya's Gaddafi regime, several Iranian and United Arab Emirates oil officials, and a Kuwaiti operator known as "the big cheese". Additionally, a laundry list of Western firms are in bed with Unaoil's Middle East operations. This includes Rolls-Royce (LON: RR) and Petrofac (LON: PFC), FMC Technologies
Unaoil is certified by an anti-corruption agency called Trace International -- but clearly the Ashani's savvy (at least, prior to the Fairfax Media/ Huffington Post report) has allowed them to out-maneuver anti-corruptions regulations. The companies that have paid Unaoil to bribe on their behalf for government contracts are protected under "plausible deniability." Basically, since Unaoil is a "reputable" and "discete middle-man", companies knowingly dealing with Unaoil can use plausible deniability as a means of avoiding legal trouble.
