According to the Department of Justice, Richard Morlok, 55, a resident of Rancho Santa Margarita, California, and former finance director of an Orange County, California-based company that designs and manufactures valves used in the nuclear, oil and gas, and power generation industries pleaded guilty to making corrupt payments to officials in China, Korea, Romania and Saudi Arabia, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. His role was in regards to a conspiracy to pay USD 628,000 in bribes to foreign government officials. According to court documents, the payments, made from 2003 through 2006, went to foreign officials at such state-owned entities as China National Offshore Oil Co., PetroChina, Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corp. (China), KHNP (Korea), Rovinari Power (Romania) and Safco (Saudi Arabia). As part of his plea agreement, Mr Morlok has agreed to cooperate with DoJ in its ongoing investigation. At sentencing, scheduled for 20 July 2009, he faces a maximum of five years in prison. The valve company was not identified, according to a local Orange County report, because it is the subject of a continuing investigation.
