Dutch shipbuilder Damen and several of its top executives are to stand trial for a wide range of alleged criminal offences, following an eight-year investigation into the Gorinchem-based family company,the AD reported on Thursday afternoon.

Prosecutors are taking three senior executives, a business partner and several Damen companies – including Damen Shipyards Gorinchem and Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding in Vlissingen – to court for suspected bribery, falsifying documents and money laundering, the paper said. The company’s British agent in the Caribbean also faces prosecution.

A preliminary hearing will take place on Monday November 24 at the Zwolle district court to determine how the case will proceed. The allegations cover a period from 2010 to early 2017 and relate to activities in the Caribbean, Brazil and African countries including Togo, Ghana and Sierra Leone.

The company has also been accused of violating Dutch sanctions against Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to the public prosecution department, the companies and executives drew up false contracts, paid intermediaries far more than allowed and manipulated company accounts.

Many of the alleged offences are said to have ended shortly after a major raid by the FIOD tax investigation service at Damen’s headquarters in January 2017.

The prosecution file also revisits earlier concerns, including the construction of a fisheries inspection vessel for Sierra Leone. In 2016, the World Bank temporarily barred Damen from its projects after finding the company had submitted incomplete documentation.

The bank later concluded this was a human error and reduced the suspension to 18 months, but prosecutors now say contracts were deliberately falsified to hide commissions, gifts or other payments, the AD said.

If Damen Shipyards Gorinchem and Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding are convicted, they face exclusion from public contracts and fines of up to 10% of annual turnover. The executives themselves could face prison terms.

Damen Shipyards is the biggest Dutch shipbuilding company and has a worldwide workforce of some 12,500. The company was founded in 1927 and focuses on military vessels, yachts and working boats for harbours.