Keppel Corp said yesterday that it has not been served with court papers relating to a new civil action lawsuit brought against Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) by certain funds managed by EIG Global Energy Partners in the United States.

Keppel's statement came in response to an article published on the Law360 website last Thursday, titled "EIG hits Keppel with US$660m Rico suit over Brazil bribery".

The article referred to a new lawsuit filed by the EIG funds in a district court in New York against Keppel O&M under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (Rico).

The lawsuit concerns Keppel O&M's role in a Brazilian bribery scheme, for which the Keppel unit recently reached a US$422 million (S$561 million) global settlement with US prosecutors.

In its statement to the Singapore Exchange, Keppel said it believes that "the reported cause of action is without merit", and that it would "vigorously defend itself if and when the relevant papers are served".

"The company will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further updates if there are relevant and material developments in relation to this suit by EIG."

In 2016, funds managed by EIG Management commenced a civil action against Keppel O&M, Sembcorp Marine, Jurong Shipyard and other firms for allegedly participating in an unlawful conspiracy further to which EIG was induced to invest more than US$221 million in Sete Brasil Participacoes SA.

Last year, the US district court for the District of Columbia ruled in favour of Keppel O&M and dismissed the action.