subject: Engineers Insurance – Weir Group Faces Fines [print this page] Engineers Insurance Weir Group Faces Fines
It will be interesting to see if Scotland's Weir Group will call upon their Engineers insurance polices as they face fines after admitting they had breached UN sanctions by doing business with Iraq over ten years ago.
This kind of incident always raises issues about how far engineers insurance polices can cope with some incidents and also demonstrates the difficulty of international business, and how authorities are ready to punish companies if they transgress international treaties, knowingly, or inadvertently.
It also throws up the question of how far various consultants, who might have acted as middlemen for Weir in their dealings with Saddam Hussein's regime, have to call upon their individual professional indemnity insurance schemes. Consultants don't have the protection of say a company's engineers insurance policy which protects the employees against the claims of professional incompetency.
So, often a Company which is fined and has to pay considerable sums as a punishment for certain actions, it is obliged (because of its shareholder duties), to pass the grief down the chain of command. This can mean laying it at the door of many freelance consultants and advisers. And if they were discovered to be at fault (say encouraged unlawful negotiations between parties, or gave incorrect legal advice as with who companies could trade), then they could be found guilty of maybe not only breaking the law, but also professional malpractice. And this is why professional indemnity insurance was introduced.
Although what's worrying for many consultants who might be caught up in the Weir situation, and others like them, is that often illegal activities can threaten the basics of the insurance cover in the first place. Mostly, it will be a case of many freelances and advisors getting caught up in the aftermath, despite being innocent of any wrongdoing and following instructions from their client.
The Glasgow-based Weir admitted in court that they had paid kick-backs' in order to win major contracts with Iraq which were covered' by the Oil for Food Scheme. Observers estimate that the company could be due for fines of nearly 14 million. The court heard that the Weir Group Plc admitted it had breached two sanctions imposed by the United Nations which had been imposed on Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion.
It was detailed in court how the company disguised' illegal payments to Iraq as commission payments to an agent. These were noted in the company's books and the payments made into a Swiss bank account.
It has taken ten years for Weir to be brought to book over the incident and its likely that other engineering firms will be named in the Iraqi sanctions busting affair. Experts are wondering just how their engineer insurance policies will stand up to the machinations.
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