SEC Charges Two In Bribery Case

The Securities & Exchange Commission has charged David P. Turner, a former Innospec business director, and Ousama M. Naaman, the specialty chemical company’s Iraqi sales agent, with bribing Iraqi government officials to secure contracts for the fuel additive tetraethyl lead. Turner will pay $40,000, and Naaman will hand over $1.3 million to settle the charges. According to SEC, Turner approved more than $9 million in bribes that Naaman doled out between 2001 and 2008 to Iraqi officials. Earlier this year, Innospec agreed to pay $40 million in fines to the U.S. and the U.K. for trade violations, including paying kickbacks to the Iraqi government under the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food Program (C&EN, March 29, page 9).