The leading figure at Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific (AGP) Group is purportedly embroiled in yet another controversy, merely eight years after narrowly avoiding imprisonment due to a bribery scandal.
A Babbler provided Bilyonaryo.com with documents indicating that AGP International Holdings’ board ousted Joseph Miller Sigelman from his positions as chairman and director on July 31.
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On the same day, AGP shareholders passed a resolution endorsing Sigelman’s immediate removal from the board.
The document, however, did not specify a reason for the decision, and AGP has yet to respond to an email query sent by Bilyonaryo.com a week ago.
Despite this development, Sigelman, whose career kicked off in investment banking with Lazard Freres and Goldman Sachs, is still listed as chairman and CEO on AG&P Group’s official website.
According to the insider, Sigelman found himself entangled in a company controversy, which also implicated another senior female executive.
This is not the first time Sigelman has faced controversy.
In 2015, Sigelman pleaded guilty to conspiring to offer bribes in order to secure an oil services contract in Colombia, thereby violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
This took place during his tenure at Petro Tiger, a British Virgin Islands-based oil and gas company he founded in 2007. By striking a plea deal, the Harvard and Princeton alum managed to avoid decades of imprisonment. Instead, he received three years of probation and was fined $339,000 in addition to restitution.
After successfully developing Petro Tiger into a prominent player in the petroleum and infrastructure services sector in Latin America, Sigelman shifted his focus to the Philippines. In 2010, he acquired the Consunji family’s stake in AGP, the largest construction firm in the country.
AG&P Industrial described itself as the Philippines’ largest contractor for structural, mechanical, and electrical projects. Its fabrication and assembly yard in Batangas provide employment to thousands and function as a central hub for dispatching finalized modules globally, with a focus on transitional fuels and decarbonization initiatives. The company is presently engrossed in the construction of a colossal P14.8 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Batangas City.
