June 19, 2006 (FinancialWire) Schlumberger Ltd. s (NYSE: SLB) WesternGeco subsidiary will pay $19.6 million in fines and legal costs after being caught submitting bogus visa applications for its foreign workers serving on U.S. ships. U.S. officials cited 421 instances of such fraud, committed between 2000 and 2004, as the reason for levying the penalty.
They threatened criminal prosecution should WesternGeco continue to abuse the U.S. visa system in future. Schlumberger representatives say that the company had cooperated with government investigators and vowed to institute a new visa and immigration policy designed to ensure that the company remains in full compliance with U.S. law. Houston-based WesternGeco is a joint venture of Schlumberger and oil drilling firm Baker Hughes, Inc. The company operates from ships in the Gulf of Mexico, and conducts seismic surveys of the seabed. Baker Hughes sold its stake in the firm in April. New York-based Schlumberger is the biggest oilfield services company in the world. For up-to-the-minute news, features and links click on https://www.FinancialWire.net FinancialWire is an independent, proprietary news service of Investrend Information, a division of Investrend Communications, Inc. It is not a press release service and receives no compensation for its news or opinions. Other divisions of Investrend, however, provide shareholder empowerment platforms such as forums, independent research and webcasting. For more information or to receive the FirstAlert daily summary of news, commentary, research reports, webcasts, events and conference calls, click on https://www.investrend.com/contact.asp For a free annual report on a company mentioned in the news, please click on https://investrend.ar.wilink.com/?level=279 The NewsFeed is now available in multiple formats to your site or desktop, free. Click on: https://www.investrend.com/XmlFeeds?level=268
