The OM continues Damen Shipyards for bribery, forgery and money laundering

The Public Prosecution Service is going to continue the largest shipbuilder in the Netherlands, Damen Shipyards, for bribery, forgery and money laundering at the sale of ships in Africa, Asia and South America. The OM reports this on Friday morning in one press release. These are Damen Shipyards in Gorinchem and Damen Naval Shipyards in Vlissingen, the branch that builds naval ships. The company is also summoned to violate the Sanctions Act after the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The OM also continues a number of (former) board members of the shipbuilder. Sources around the study confirm that it is founder Kommer Damen, his son Arnout Damen who is now chairman of the board, and René Berkvens, chairman of the board between 2006 and 2019. Also Stephen Hobson, an intermediate agent for Damen in the Caribbean, is being prosecuted. Neither the OM nor Damen wants to confirm that.

Defense

The timing of the decision is precarious. A conviction can turn out to be very negative for the company. Damen Shipyards may not compete for government orders for four years. Damen Shipyards is the largest supplier of the Dutch Navy. Certainly now that the defense travels are being increased in Europe, the company can miss out on a lot of money. In a statement, the company says that « Damen prefers to focus his attention only on the strengthening of the Dutch maritime sector and contributing to combating the defense bodies that the current geopolitical situation entails » than having to defend themselves against « suspicions of the OM ».

The decision follows eight years of investigation. In 2017, FIOD Investigation Service invaded the company. In 2018 and 2019 unveiled NRCin collaboration with Lighthouse Reports, the dubious sales mores within the company. There were irregularities When selling a ship in Sierra Leone, when selling a warship in Indonesia through an agent who probably received bribesand about the dubious role of Damen’s intermediate dealer In Trinidad and Tobago that is now being prosecuted.

It also appeared that Damen had made mistakes fourteen times when applying for export policies at ATRADIUS DSB, which insures it on behalf of the Dutch state. Sanctions were not for this.

‘One shipment of taps’

A spokesperson for Damen says that the company has recently been in ‘good conversation’ with the OM on all issues. The conversations could possibly result in a settlement. But the conversations were stranded in the period that de Volkskrant New corruption reliefs published and TV program News hour revealed that the company may violate sanctions against Russia. The spokesperson for Damen: « Then it stopped the conversations, and now we are here. » Other sources report that the conversations got stuck on unwillingness on the side of Damen.

In a statement, Damen complains about the fact that many things are old, mainly about forgery of writing and not for corruption, and that some things have already been assessed by the World Bank. The spokesperson wants to emphasize that the summons before violating sanction legislation seems to be « great », but only concerns « one shipment of cranes ». « Damen has assessed the file and concludes that the OM does not have a feasible matter. » The OM expects the lawsuit to start in the second half of this year.

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