Weir fined £3m for Iraq breach

15th Dec 2010 14:19

Engineer Weir has been fined £3m after pleading guilty to breaching UN sanctions against Iraq through its involvement in the oil-for-food programme.Following the guilty plea, Weir was also subject to a confiscation order of £13.95m. These financial penalties will be paid before the year end and will be treated as an exceptional item after taking account of approximately £5m of provisions, Weir said.Current trading remains strong in line with the company's update last month and expectations for the full year remain unchanged, it added.Lord Smith of Kelvin, Chairman of Weir commented, " What happened back in 2001 was wrong and we accept full responsibility. Today's decision finally draws a line under the Crown Office's Oil-for-Food investigation, which we believe is in the best interests of shareholders."