I'm really sick and tired of listening to all the whining about Keppel's bribery in Brazil so, as ever, I'm here to tell you what the truth actually is. Ready?
Keppel did nothing wrong.
In fact, not only that, but those Keppel's executives who spent around S$73 million on bribes to secure billions worth of contracts which produced a net profit of S$467 million for the company (a return of 6.4x) should be praised for their behaviour (although they did make one mistake in the end, more on that in a minute).
But there's more: the company should continue doing this whenever local circumstances demand bribery to push things forward. Absolutely. Pay off every corrupt crook asking for money and get those deals rolling in.
It's not a problem for Singapore, now is it? It's Brazil's problem. It's their politicians, their state executives who demanded bribes and padded their pockets with money they shouldn't have earned.
Spending S$73 million to secure billions worth of projects is the most effective marketing expense you'll ever see. The company made handsome profits, thousands of its employees - including many Singaporeans - have enjoyed well-paying jobs for 13 years on the back of this investment.
What's not to enjoy?
Now, critically, I'm not saying that the company (or any company) should actively seek to bribe foreigners to secure projects.
But when you try to do business in a rotten to the core 3rd world country, where corruption is not only tolerated but a prerequisite to getting many things done, that's what you should do, without any hesitation.
The real scandal would be if the situation was reversed - if it was found that Keppel's executives took some bribes and pocketed unearned money at the loss for the company. They should be thrown behind bars.
I really find rather nauseating all of those holier-than-though Singaporean talking heads barking left and right how reprehensible that corruption was. It really shows when someone comes from a country where bribery is non-existent and most people had no first-hand experience with it.
I happen to come from Eastern Europe. Corruption used to be a daily thing in Poland for the first ca. 15 years after the fall of communism. Police checkpoint? Pay 100 in bribe or 200 in a fine. Visiting a doctor? Wait two years for a surgery or pay-off the official to get to the front of the line. Need a document made quickly? Bring a box of chocolates to the lady in the city hall.
And so it went all the way to the top, securing public contracts with the help of "friendly" people in charge (and remains the case in the echelons of power until today.
When I went to Kyrgyzstan I paid three traffic bribes in 4 days. Policemen just pocket the money from tourists. Should I have insisted on official ticket, troublesome bureaucracy or even a visit to the police station? Screw that, here's 10 bucks and have a nice day.
I'm not saying it's a good thing - but IT IS A THING. And when you're faced with it you can either pay up or endure the pain.
Nobody is saying this but Keppel's executives acted in the best interest of the company and thousands of its employees in Singapore.
They secured lucrative contracts that kept the business going for 13 years. If they hadn't then then the same smart-as**s barking at them today would be complaining about the company not getting new business, not growing more quickly or having to cut its employment instead of growing it.
And what would you expect then? For Keppel's execs to call a conference and say the reason they haven't been able to get a multibillion dollar stake in Brazil's petroleum industry was that they refused to pay some bribes? Ohh daaamn, how noble of you! But guess what - somebody else did and they are now delivering those ships and oil rigs to Petrobras.
Because that's the thing - it's not that Keppel's people somehow corrupted the Brazilian elites but rather those Brazilian elites set the rules of engagement. If not Keppel someone else would have forked out the dough.
In fact, others actually did. American Honeywell or Dutch SBM Offshore were other companies investigated and fined in the process. Brazil's own Odebrecht also sent kickbacks to Petrobras (and now agreed to pay $3.5 billion to authorities in i.a. US and Switzerland).
The only mistake that Keppel's people made was neither in Brazil nor in Singapore - it was in the USA by involving their American subsidiary, what ultimately brought wrath of Washington on the company. This is what ultimately erased the profits made in Brazil (though, still, many years after they were collected).
Understandably, Americans are not particularly happy that their financial system is being used for shady business deals, money laundering and so on. Permissiveness in that regard could help not only a bunch of crooks running the 3rd world but mafia syndicates and terror groups as well - hence the legal ramifications for Keppel (among others).
The entire Operation Car Wash was, of course, a massive corruption scandal - but in Brazil, not in Singapore.
Keppel's execs simply did their jobs: secured billions of dollars worth of projects at a relatively tiny financial expense, protecting jobs of their colleagues and profits of the business. Well done.
It's a pity they had to pay bribes to do it but that's Brazil's problem to fix. You can't blame a foreign company for playing by the local rules.
