Tijuana, February 11. Juan Carlos Luna, a representative of a group of Baker Hughes investors, wrote a document addressed to the company's executives, requesting an investigation into the matter of the residence loaned to José Ramón López Beltrán, as well as the conditions under which Pemex extended contracts with the company.
On February 9, Luna addressed Lorenzo Simonello, President and CEO; Brian Worrell, Chief Financial Officer; Regina Bynote Jones, General Counsel; Russell Wilkerson, Director of Corporate Affairs; and Judson E. Bailey, Vice President and Head of Investor Relations, and sent a copy to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The statement
In recent weeks, there has been a significant amount of news reporting on a potential conflict of interest and other irregularities by Baker Hughes, stemming from the fact that a high-level executive of the company had a direct relationship with the son of the Mexican president and his wife, around the same time that Baker Hughes obtained a multi-million dollar contract extension from Pemex.
Due to circumstances that remain unclear—and which raise legitimate concerns about possible irregularities—Mr. Keith Schilling, a Baker Hughes executive, authorized the use of a residence in Conroe, Texas, registered in his name, to José Ramón López Beltrán (son of the President of Mexico) and his wife, Caroline Adams. The López couple occupied the property between 2019 and 2020, coinciding with the time when Pemex granted significant extensions and increased costs to contracts.
