NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Six oil services and a freight company have paid $236.5 million to settle a government lawsuit that alleges they paid millions of dollars in bribes to foreign customs officials.
The suit, filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleges the companies paid off customs officials in more than 10 countries in exchange for benefits including avoiding import fees, speeding up the import process and obtaining false documentation for permits.
The companies named in the lawsuit are: oil company Royal Dutch Shell (RDS), based in the Netherlands; U.S. shipping company Tidewater; and offshore drillers Transocean, Noble Corporation, Pride International and GlobalSantaFe. The seventh company is Swiss freight forwarding giant Panalpina.
None of the companies admitted or denied the allegations as part of the settlement.
"These companies resorted to lucrative arrangements behind the scenes to obtain phony paperwork and special favors, and they landed themselves squarely in investigators' crosshairs," Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a prepared statement.
The SEC said it was "the first sweep of a particular industrial sector in order to crack down on public companies and third parties who are paying bribes abroad." 
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