BP Part of Serious Fraud Office Bribery Probe, Telegraph Says

BP Plc (BP/) is part of a U.K. Serious Fraud Office investigation over bribery allegations relating to one of its engineering contractors in Azerbaijan, the Daily Telegraph reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

The contractor, whose identity is not known, reported the allegations itself to the SFO last year; while there are no suggestions that BP employees paid bribes, the company may still be held liable if the contractor is found guilty under the Bribery Act, and if wrongdoing took place after July 1, 2011, the newspaper said.

BP is currently developing one of the world’s largest gas pipelines in Azerbaijan, known as the Shah Deniz project. BP and the SFO wouldn’t comment on the bribery allegations, the Telegraph reported.

To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Tadeo in London at mtadeo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Lytle at dlytle@bloomberg.net