AIRLOG CEO Terminated and CFO resigns

[Hippolite]

From OLOG's website


LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA (April 26, 2005) -- Offshore Logistics, Inc. (NYSE.OLG) announced today that
Drury A. Milke, its Executive Vice President - North America and President of its affiliate, Air Logistics, LLC,
has been terminated and that H. Eddy Dupuis, its Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, and
Treasurer, has resigned from the Company.
These actions arose in connection with the previously-announced Audit Committee review of certain payments
made in a foreign country. The review of these payments, which is being conducted with the assistance of
outside counsel, has been expanded to cover other arrangements in foreign countries.

[ATPMBA]

It sounds like they may have paid bribes in a foreign country and tangled with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 1977 (FCPA). Penalties for violation of this law are severe: a company can be fined up to $2,000,000, and officers or directors can be fined $100,000 or imprisoned for up to 5 years.
This policy applies to companies and its subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, shareholders,
employees, representatives and agents worldwide. The FCPA does not contain any
"materiality" standard; all violations, regardless of the sum of money involved, are considered equally serious.

However, the do allow for “grease” payments, that's were you pay a few bucks to get a telephone line installed quickly rather than waiting a year.


Sounds like this may cause a leadership vacuum at Olog, I’m sure CHC has taken note.

[Ian Corrigible]

Pure speculation but....AirLog's Nigerian op ?

I/C

[ambidextrous]

Shouldn't be a problem for OLOG/PANAFRICAN/BRISTOW in Nigeria. Bribery in Nigeria comes under the term 'dash', in essence it means that you are simply paying for the service before you receive it! Neat eh, so it can't be bribery/corruption n'est pas?
With fraternal greetings-ambi

[212man]

Ambi,
I think Haliburton may disagree with you there!

"Feb. 4 - The Justice Department has opened up an inquiry into whether Halliburton Co. was involved in the payment of $180 million in possible kickbacks to obtain contracts to build a natural gas plant in Nigeria during a period in the late 1990’s when Vice President Dick Cheney was chairman of the company, Newsweek has learned."

[alouette]

And that is supposed to be any breath taking news. One pilot from SA told me once that if you really intend to do business in Africa you need to bribe. Just correct me if that ain't the case:E

[ambidextrous]

212man,

Like I said, it's called 'Dash'. The principle remains sound, only the amounts differ!

with fraternal greetings to all at Warri, ambi

[Lu Zuckerman]

When I worked in Iran Bell Helicopter which was working on a military contract under US Army direction had to pay a bribe of $25,000 to get custody of frozen turkeys and canned hams for the employee's Thanksgiving celebration. The same was true for similar items brought in for the employee’s Christmas celebration paying over $25,000 in bribes.

General electric removed an engine from an F-4, which was owned by the Iranian air force. This engine was sent back to the GE facility in Cincinnati where it was tweaked on their test stand. This engine was to be used to calibrate the test stand in Iran. When the engine was received back in Iran the contractor had to pay $75,000 in bribes to clear customs on an engine owned by the Iranian air force.

In both cases the bribes were written off as a cost of doing business and eventually the US military reimbursed the two contractors.

Of course it worked both ways. The Shah would collect 2% of a companies profits which were paid to the Palavi Foundation owned by the Shah. One major chicken farmer refused to pay the 2% and the Shah had all of the mans chickens put to death which deprived the Iranians of chicken meat, which was a major staple in their diet. The Iranian government contracted with Denmark to supply frozen chickens until the farmer could get back on line to supply most of Iran’s chickens. Wouldn’t you know the customs agents were bribed to allow the frozen chickens to pass through customs?

From what I understand 2% of the bribes went to the Palavi foundation.

:E :E

[SASless]

Are we not jumping the gun here....all the speculation is that the problem is in Nigeria and is the result of paying bribes to someone. Maybe there is another kind of issue here....and it is "questionable" payments but not of the bribe kind...a bit of being too close to the source and the recipient maybe?

What is important is the rapidity of the departures....dropped like a used condom it appears. As in most of these cases....how far down will the house cleaning go?

I would imagine there may be another shoe to drop yet!:E

[Hippolite]

It is just pure speculation that it might be Nigeria and we don't need any expert opinion that some dash money might be required there, we just MIGHT know it already.

This could also relate to Egypt, or any other place that OLOG does business. It is about payments made in a foreign country...payments can be made both ways......

There will be more to come on this, it will leak out more over the next few weeks

HH:cool:

[Cyclic Hotline]

Maybe it was the UK!

Thats a foreign country for Airlog. Isn't it? ;)

[widgeon]

It reminds me of the situation at American Eurocopter in the late 80's . just after the merger they were involved in selling some Dauphins to Israel , there were illegal ( under US law) commissions paid to a senior miltary officer. All the people involved of European origin had conveniently left the country when the Sh** hit the fan so the American CEO was left to take the hit . He was terminated . Interestingly the case against him was thrown out the first day in court. Also interesting is that the CEO had worked for OLOG .

[Joker's Wild]

From nasdaq.com



Offshore Logistics Fires Exec; Co Faces SEC Probe

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP)--Offshore Logistics Inc. (OLG) has lost a president and vice president in the wake of news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking at the foreign operations of the helicopter transportation company.

Drury Milke, president of Air Logistics, LLC, has been fired, and Offshore Logistics Inc. Vice President and Chief Financial Officer H. Eddy Dupuis has resigned, the company announced Tuesday. Offshore Logistics is the parent company of Air Logistics.

On Feb. 10, the company disclosed that its audit committee had hired outside counsel to review payments made by two affiliated entities of the company in a foreign country.

In an April 5 form 10-Q filing for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, Offshore Logistics said it voluntarily advised the SEC of its audit findings, and said the SEC notified the company that an informal inquiry is under way. The audit committee's review was expanded to cover operations in other countries.

Offshore Logistics doesn't expect to make any material adjustments to its historical financial statements in connection with the review, the company said Tuesday. The company said its annual report for the year ended March 31 may be delayed.

Offshore Logistics President and CEO William E. Chiles said the staffing changes were a result of a company review.

"The management team felt that it was necessary and advised the audit committee that they should investigate," he said. "The investigation is ongoing until sometime this summer."

Chiles said no other personnel changes are expected. Milke and Dupuis could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The company services most oil and gas producing regions including the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, the North Sea, Africa, Mexico, South America, Australia, Egypt, Nigeria and the Far East.

Offshore Logistics, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, closed Tuesday down $1.07 at $30.11.




NASDAQ story (http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20050427/ACQDJON200504270528DOWJONESDJONLINE000585.htm&symbol=olg`&selected=olg&selecteddisplaysymbol=OLG&coname=Offshore%20Logistics,%20Inc.&logopath=&market=NYSE&pageName=Company%20News)