Specialty chemicals company Innospec anticipates settling foreign bribery charges with U.S. and British officials for between $28.8 million and $40.2 million, according to a regulatory filing.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission notified the company three years ago that it was looking into possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other laws in connection with Innospec's involvement with the United Nations' Oil for Food Program in Iraq.

The U.S. Department of Justice later notified the company that it, too, was investigating the company.

"The subjects into which the SEC and DOJ have inquired include areas that concern certain former and current executives of the company, including our former CEO, who resigned on March 20, 2009," Innospec said in its annual report filed with the SEC on Friday.

Last July, the Justice Department disclosed it had charged a Canadian citizen for his alleged participation in an eight-year conspiracy to defraud the Oil for Food Program (OFFP) and to bribe Iraqi government officials in connection with the sale of a chemical additive used in the refining of leaded fuel.

A press release issued by the Justice Department said that Ousama Naaman allegedly offered and paid 10% kickbacks to the Iraqi government in exchange for five contracts under the Oil for Food Program. In return, Naaman allegedly received two% of the contracts' value and a 2% commission for securing the contracts.

In its filing on Friday, Innospec said that Naaman was its former agent for Iraq and that Innospec understood "the indictment to relate to the matters that are the subject" of the investigations.

The filing also disclosed that the UK's Serious Fraud Office informed subsidiary Innospec Ltd in May 2008 that it had begun an investigation "into certain contracts involving British companies" under the Oil for Food Program.

Innospec said the outcome of the various investigations remained uncertain, but said it had set aside $40.2 million based on its best estimate of an anticipated settlement range of $28.8 million
to $40.2 million. Innospec said it was cooperating with the investigations.