One of the UK’s oldest surveying firms saw shares plunge by almost a fifth today as a new probe into bribery claims on a $100 million (£65 million) hospital project in Morocco revealed “material instances of deception”.
Sweett Group, which was managing the hospital’s construction, hired law firm Pinsent Masons last year to investigate claims by the Wall Street Journal that it had paid a bribe to an official in the United Arab Emirates president’s personal foundation to land the deal.
The firm, founded in 1928, closed the original investigation in January with the allegations “unproven”. It appointed a second law firm, Mayer Brown, to carry out another probe and said today: “Evidence suggests material instances of deception may have been perpetrated by a former employee or employees,” between 2009 and 2011. Shares slumped 10p to 41p.
