AMEC has agreed to pay a £4.9m Civil Recovery Order to the Serious Fraud Office and review its accounting policies after it failed to keep accurate records. The Serious Fraud Office agreed the £4.9m civil court settlement with engineering group AMEC over $9m (£5.5m) of “irregular receipts” the company took in relation to the construction of the Incheon Bridge, Korea.

Few details were disclosed by the SFO or AMEC as part of the civil recovery order and the agreement is expected to reopen a debate about how the SFO seeks to hold British companies to account regarding allegations of corporate wrong-doing overseas.

AMEC released a statement which contained the following:

No improper overall commercial advantage accrued to AMEC in connection with the receipts and no adjustment is required to any AMEC financial statements. These receipts were associated with AMEC’s last remaining active PPP project. The division to which it belonged was divested in mid-2007. The project is now complete, ahead of the original schedule.

AMEC is committed to the highest ethical standards. The company’s code of business conduct requires that all its businesses and employees act with integrity at all times and that there is strict compliance with applicable laws. AMEC has appointed an independent consultant to review and report upon its existing ethics and compliance programme, to ensure these standards are maintained.