A corrupt Brazilian shipping agent has failed in a UK court bid to extract $16.66m of drillship charter commissions from George Economou companies.

Hamylton Padilha's HPOR operation was trying to overturn a tribunal ruling in the high court.

The tribunal said in March that Padilha's payment - a 2% commission for arranging charters for two drillships with Petrobras - was forfeit due to his involvement in paying bribes to the Brazilian oil company in a previous unconnected deal.