Saipem faces 'false accounting' and 'market manipulation' probe
EPC contractor Saipem is 'confident' no wrongdoing has been carried out [representational image].
Published: 23 January 2019 - 4:30 a.m.
By: Oscar Rousseau
Prosecutors in Milan, Italy, have launched an investigation into Saipem, its chief executive officer, and two managers over allegations of false accounting and market manipulation carried out between 2015 and 2017.
The allegations involve false accounting committed between April 2016 and April 2017; manipulation of the market, supposed to have taken place from 27 October, 2015, to April 2017; and claims of issuing a false statement in January 2016, Saipem said.
The engineering, procurement, and construction company – which recently won two contracts worth $1.3bn (SAR4.8bn) in Saudi Arabia – said it was confident it had done nothing wrong.
"The company has given its fullest collaboration in the framework of the activities consequent to today's notification and is confident that, on the outcome of the investigation, the correctness of its activities will be confirmed," Saipem said in a statement.
Shares in the Borsa Italiana-listed business dropped by 1.5% after news of the investigation broke on 22 January.
The judiciary probe into Saipem and several of its executives was started by Italy's National Commission for Companies and the Stock Exchange, commonly called Consob, a government stock market regulator, in 2018.
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