Until last spring Baker Hughes, a US oil industry contractor, appeared to have very good relations with officials in Kazakhstan. The Texas-based company's order books were replete with work in the oil rich central Asian state, with contracts in the country's Karachaganak oil field, for instance, generating revenues worth $219m between 2001 and 2006.

The rosy picture changed on April 26, however, when US authorities announced fines worth $44m against Baker Hughes for allegedly paying bribes to win contracts in Kazakhstan. According to US justice department papers, Baker Hughes paid $5.2m to two agents in relation to the bribery of officials with Kazakh state-owned energy companies. Another agent paid $1m into a Swiss bank account in connection with a large chemical contract with Kazakhstan's national oil transportation company.