The Office of Public Affairs has reported that a federal jury has convicted Javier Aguilar, former Vitol Inc employee, for playing a role in a scheme to bribe government officials of Ecuador and Mexico and launder money to secure contracts worth millions of dollars for Vitol Inc. Based on evidence presented, Aguilar paid more than $US 1m in bribes to Petroecuador officials and PEMEX Procurement International. Between 2015 and 2020, Aguilar, along with various co-conspirators agreed to bribe officials to obtain a $US 300m contract and used a middle eastern state-owned entity to circumvent Petroecuador’s contract restrictions. When the officials that had been bribed were replaced after the 2017 Ecuadorean presidential election, Aguilar and the co-conspirators agreed to bribe the new officials. Aguilar had used shell entities and sham invoices to launder bribe payments to officials at PEMEX Procurement International. Seven of Aguilar's co-conspirators have pleaded guilty and have agreed to forfeit more than $US 63m.

The obligation on employers to designate and facilitate access to a stakeholder pension scheme (as set out in section 3 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 (WRPA 1999)) ceased to apply from 1 October 2012, when the new obligation to enrol workers automatically into an automatic enrolment scheme (introduced by the Pensions Act 2008) came into effect. However, unless a relevant exception applies (eg where an employer is notified that a designated stakeholder pension scheme has commenced winding up), employers are under a continuing duty in respect of relevant employees to deduct employee contributions to an existing stakeholder scheme from their remuneration and pay them to the trustees or managers of the schemes. In addition, any existing or new stakeholder pension schemes must continue to be operated in accordance with the statutory requirements in relation to such schemes. A continued understanding of the legal requirements relating to the establishment, maintenance and eventual winding-up of stakeholder pension schemes is therefore important and the purpose of this Practice Note is to set out a basic

Produced in association with 4 Pump Court This Practice Note looks at the issues that a referring party will need to consider when seeking the appointment of an adjudicator, such as the timetable, whether an adjudicator is specified or appointed by an adjudicator nominating body (ANB), requirements for a particular adjudicator, and restrictions on or attempts to exclude certain persons from adjudicating the dispute. Finally, guidance for corresponding with the adjudicator is provided. In relation to an adjudicator’s ability to resign and/or for a referring party to terminate their appointment, see Practice Notes: Resignation by the adjudicator and Abandoning or ending an adjudication early. Introduction Once the Notice of Adjudication has been served, the referring party will need to seek the appointment of an adjudicator in a timely manner. This is because the adjudicator must be appointed and the Referral Notice served on them within seven days after the Notice of Adjudication (where the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (HGCRA 1996) applies). Where the HGCRA 1996 does not apply, a different period may be specified in the

Tournier v National Provincial established that it is an implied term of the contract between a banker and a customer that the banker will keep the customer's information confidential. This duty is subject to the following qualifications: • where disclosure is compelled by law • where there is a duty to the public to disclose • where

A: General information Date of review [Insert date] Trainee solicitor [Insert name] Supervisor conducting review [Insert name] [Department] [Delete if not appropriate] Stage of training [What stage of the training contract has been reached, eg seat 3 of 4 or month 15 of 24?] B:

Name of organisation [insert name of organisation] Name of role holder [insert name] Reports to [insert name] Role type (full-time/part-time/contractor) [insert] If a contractor role, length of contract [insert] Primary location [insert location] Remote/hybrid/office-based? [insert] Date role commenced [insert date] Length

This Q&A refers you to the following Practice Notes that may be helpful in your research: • Consumer credit agreements—pre-contract requirements—in this Practice Note you can see that it is a requirement of the Consumer Credit (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2010, SI 2010/1013 for a creditor to disclose certain

The flat owners as parties to the deed of covenant can bring a claim for specific performance seeking that the maintenance company performs its obligations. Alternatively damages are available for breach of the contract. If the flat owner is an assignee of the original flat owner covenantee,

The 2016 editions of the Scottish Building Contract Committee (SBCC) contracts have not yet been published. However, the SBCC has confirmed to us that publication will be starting shortly, and that the contracts will be released in the same order as the JCT 2016 contracts (starting with

A power purchase agreement (PPA) is a contract between an electricity generator (generator) and the party who is purchasing the power (offtaker) which incorporates the commercial terms for the sale and purchase of electricity for a project. The PPA provides a route to market for the electricity

This Q&A relates to drafting options for jurisdiction clauses which anticipate court litigation in a business-to-business contract. The terms ‘exclusive’ and ‘non-exclusive’ jurisdiction are not particularly helpful. This is better phrased as to whether the commencement and pursuit of foreign proceedings are things which a party

There is neither privity of contract nor privity of estate between the head landlord and the undertenant, and so the undertenant is not personally liable for the covenants contained in the head lease. If, however, the head lease contains a proviso for re-entry on breach of covenant, the undertenant is liable to