Convictions in Unaoil bribery case delivers win for SFO

Two former oil executives have been convicted for conspiring to give corrupt payments to secure valuable contracts in Iraq in a much-needed victory for the embattled Serious Fraud Office. The convictions form part of a sprawling three-year investigation by the SFO into illegal payments made by the oil consultancy Unaoil in a saga that has already engulfed giants such as Rolls-Royce and Halliburton. Ziad Akle, a manager at Unaoil, and Stephen Whitely, an executive at Dutch oil company SBM, were f