Sales manager ‘paid bribes to get oil deal’

An oil executive bribed an Iraqi official to win a highly lucrative deal, a court heard. Executives at Monaco-based oil company Unaoil hoped to secure massive contracts in Iraq after the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein in April 2003. Sales manager at Dutch-based energy firm, SBM, Paul Bond, 68, allegedly conspired with three Unaoil executives to help them win the huge oil deal. Stephen Whiteley, 65, and Ziad Akle, 45, were convicted of involvement in the scandal last year after…