Calgary-based company guilty of corruption charge

Calgary-based Griffiths Energy International Inc. pleaded guilty to a charge under the Corruption of Foreign PublicOfficials Act in relationtosome contract dealings in the African country of Chad.

The company was trying to secure an oil and gas contractin the impoverished African nation.

In an agreed statement of facts read in court on Tuesday, Griffiths Energy International acknowledgedthe wife of Chad's ambassador to Canada signed an agreement that guaranteed$2 million in cashand millions of shares in Griffiths Energy, if thecompany was given exclusive resources in two regions.

After giving the government of Chad a $40 million signing bonus, Griffiths Energy was awarded the resources rights.

Griffiths was formed in 2009.

New management took over in 2011 and was preparing an initial public offeringwhen it discovered the illegal contracts.

The company contacted the RCMP and provided thousands of pages of documents to investigators.

A guilty plea was entered in a Calgary courtroom Tuesday morning. It's only the fourth time a company has been chargedunderCanada's Corruption of Foreign PublicOfficials Act.

GriffithsEnergy and theCrown haveagreedon a $10.3-million fine, but the case has been adjourneduntil Friday for adecision in the Court of Queen's Bench.